


A Chance Arrangement

by Anaredrina



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Dubious Ethics, Dubious Morality, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post-Devil May Cry 5, Reader Insert, Slow Burn, dramatic af, extra af, law enforcement reader, mentions of some serious crimes like rape or murder, my cringy writing style as usual, oh how could i forget the sparda braincell jokes, relatively young reader, short reader insert, somewhat more modern au or something idk, they have computers and cellphones but thats about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:00:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28344306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anaredrina/pseuds/Anaredrina
Summary: You begin your long-winded and interesting new work experience with well-known devil hunters and decided to collaborate, using your smarts to help with their matters, and their powers to aid you in your already dubious and mysterious private investigation firm.You are definitely one short, yet powerful force to be reckoned with. It also didn't occur to you that demons could be both scary and hot at the same time! What an interesting, slow burning mess.(Yes I stole the name from that one Skyrim quest)
Relationships: Nero (Devil May Cry) & Reader, Nero (Devil May Cry)/Reader, Nero (Devil May Cry)/You
Kudos: 19





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Basically this is a heavily and I mean HEAVILY edited version of some short!reader x nero bullshit I posted on Tumblr in 2019. I've polished and cut a lot of it and tried to make it more readable and more slow-burn-y. Of course this is self indulgent. That's all I do. Still hope you enjoy!

Today was your first day at work, as a sort of investigator at the Devil May Cry office. Dante, the infamous son of sparda, set up his new shop in Fortuna, following Red Grave’s destruction and he was keen to expand their… Services. He was looking for someone like you for the job specifically. 

Dante decided he would like to offer his services to petty human issues now, because it’s petty humans that have more money. Being a demon helps more than you would think in solving shady crimes, petty personal vendettas, cold cases and other personal matters that law enforcement can't pursue. 

Dante, V, Nero and sometimes Vergil would supply the horsepower, so long as you provided the smarts and inside intel, at least that was the deal. What else would you benefit from it? A 50/50 cut, room and board, and being associated with the group of legendary devil hunters. Maybe some pizza, too.

The mobile “branch” was still being run by Nero and Nico mostly, but both now moved into the large shared apartment above the new HQ.

It was more like a series of connected apartments that Dante bought out entirely, so he effectively owns the whole building. You, Trish, Lady, Dante, Nico, Nero and V would share the space together. Vergil would very occasionally visit; more so just spend a night or two on the couch if he was tasked to help with a mission, and he'd swiftly refute back to the underworld to keep an eye on things from the inside. 

It's not really a secret that sheer manpower is the driving force behind Devil May Cry. There's little to no logistics involved. Dante firmly stands his ground with his motto of “Stab it until it works”, aka just brute force everything. However, acquiring the new shop as well as the living space above it netted him even more serious debt. 

You were well aware that you're likely not getting paid very much, if not at all, but you'll have room and board at least while you are at work, which will be most of the time. You didn't really mind though, your freelance work/main job earns you enough on the side to comfortably live off anyway and you’ve got enough case files locally in Fortuna to help out with, in your own time. 

But Dante had specifically sought you out because of your… Willingness to work in somewhat shadier circumstances. More work means more money. Not to mention how innocent you looked, nobody would suspect that you'd ever be up to no good. A handful of times, you could even pass as a minor. 

Before today, you had only corresponded with Dante a handful of times to discuss your position, and he hadn't introduced you to the rest of the crew yet. He gave you a copy of the key the evening before when you dropped most of your important stuff off at the apartment, and would be ready to move in the next day.

As you unlocked the heavy front door at around 10 AM, you were surprised to see that everything was still dark. You truly had no idea just how disorganized they were… Hopefully you'd be able to fix that. Your stuff was mostly packed into boxes at the foot of the staircase, a note and additional key was haphazardly taped to one of the boxes. 

Upon further inspection, you found that it was a note telling you which room is yours, and that you should feel free to unlock it and start moving your stuff in. The note was hard to read, and the spelling resembled that of a middle schooler with two left hands, so you figured Dante must have written it. As you plucked the note from one of the cardboard boxes, you heard someone shuffling along the hallway upstairs. 

An exceptionally tall man with pitch black hair stepped down the stairs, quite heavily tattooed, yet still somewhat elegant looking despite wearing a fuzzy bathrobe that looks like he stole it from a hotel room. 

You shared some awkward glances; he didn't really know who you are and what you wanted here, but you obviously were somehow supposed to be here because you were carrying keys with you that he recognized to be Dante's spare keys. You were far too puny and dainty to be a robber, so he didn't act hostile towards you. 

The man stopped in the middle of the flight of stairs, and asked you a question. 

“May I help you?”   
“I was supposed to meet Dante here… I'm your new uh, coworker I think?” You assumed he was another team member, but you weren't that sure. As you said that, something appeared to click in his head.   
“Ah, you're that smart one Dante informed us about. The detective. Pleasure to meet you.” 

He smiled warmly at you and extended his hand. You were a couple of feet away from the foot of the stairs and you thought that was an awkward gesture, but you stepped forward nonetheless and climbed up a few steps to shake his hand. 

“Yeah… The smart one,” you mumbled.   
“I beg your pardon?”  
“Nevermind. You can call me y/n.”  
He smiled wearily. “Nice to meet you. You can call me V.”

You furrowed your brow for a moment. “V? Just V? The letter V?...”  
V looked at you as if you'd just asked if the sky is blue, confused by your query.   
“Yes. V. It's a long story I'd rather not get into as of now.” 

You apologized hurriedly for perhaps crossing any boundaries, and turned to tend to the boxes stacked at the foot of the staircase. Silently, you tried picking as many up as you could and tried to walk up the stairs. V was still standing there, watching you. 

“Would you require any assistance?”  
“No I'm fine. Thanks V.”

That was a lie. You're definitely a bit overwhelmed with the bulky objects, and your size wasn't helping. You also clearly looked strained. 

“Let me help.” 

Before you could interject, a bird-like creature manifested in thin air, perching on V’s arm. You noticed that part of his tattoos disappeared as well. 

“What the…” you muttered.  
“This is Griffon. He's a Familiar.”  
“Hey girlie! Looks like you need help with those boxes?”

Even more confused now, you tilted your head and examined the bird thoroughly. 

“Did he… Just talk?...”  
“Yes,” V stated dryly.   
“He is quite the… Chatterbox. It's best you get used to it.” 

You nodded, albeit still confused. V passed you on the staircase, and picked up some of the smaller boxes and silently headed back up to the hallway, to your room. He figured that the empty bedroom was yours, and made his way over. The bird swooped towards you, and took the last large box out of your hands, and followed him. 

With nearly empty hands, all you had left to do was follow them. Both V and Griffon, that strange talking bird, were holding your items while you made your way up to unlock the door. 

To your surprise the room was rather nice. It had an ensuite bathroom, a large queen sized bed, and a generously sized window. The bed was made and it looked almost like a hotel room. As you stood in the door frame, V squeezed past you and Griffon followed suit, they both put the boxes down on your bed. The bird landed on V’s shoulder, and eyeballed you thoroughly. 

“You sure are puny. But Dante told us you're the smart one, and that you’re a detective or a cop or something! Usually we hide from the cops! Hahaha!” He cackled strangely. You didn't think you'd ever see or hear a bird laughing at you, especially not a demonic one. Nervously, you chuckled. 

“I don’t work as a cop anymore. I’m a private investigator, but… Yeah… Maybe I am. Seems like he made that a point…”

“It's said the Spardas only share one brain cell. Good ol’ V here is the exception though. Dante, Nero and Vergil take turns with it.” Even more otherworldly laughter erupted from the demonic bird and you couldn't help but laugh at his sass. 

V rolled his eyes, and unsummoned Griffon. The tattoo you saw disappear earlier crept back on to his skin. It took you awhile to process that those are no ordinary tattoos. But you didn't really want to pester him with questions. 

“Sorry for that. He can have… An attitude sometimes.”  
“No no, I think he's amusing.”  
V scoffed. “You think so, for now.”

He turned around and walked past you in the doorway again, making his exit. “Let me know if you need anything else. I will be in the kitchen. It is through the doorway to your right when you head back down the stairs.”

You finished unpacking most of your essential items; such as your toiletries, electronics and the clothes you wore most frequently, some decorations as well as keepsakes you have. After you'd gotten that out of the way, you changed into something a bit more casual and headed to the kitchen, and V was still there, doing what you could only describe as trying to cook. Griffon, his chatty bird familiar; not his pet, was also trying to give suggestions. How could a bird, a demonic bird at that, know how to cook?...

Dante was sitting at one of the island counters, nagging and telling him what to do constantly. You didn't know if Dante was truly trying to help, or just coaxing V into cooking for him. 

After silently watching this spectacle for a few moments, you knocked on the door frame you were standing in to grab their attention. When you first walked in you didn't notice it, but Dante wasn't dressed in more than some baggy flannel pajama pants and rather silly looking slippers. You sort of expected no less of him, and recalled what Griffon told you about the Sparda brain cell. Seems accurate so far… 

“Hey, y/n! Good morning.” He seemed to be in a pretty good mood, and insisted on a bear hug, glad to see you, while V nodded at you. It was a tiny bit awkward to be pressed into your secret bosses’ naked upper body, but you had no complaints.You were used to saluting to a higher-up, before you had gained enough reputation for yourself to set up shop as a private investigator.

It wasn't necessarily comfortable, but his muscles felt like actual steel; this man was definitely ridiculously strong and you wondered for a brief second if he'd accidentally squish you. 

“You seem shorter than when we met.”  
“I was wearing shoes when we met Dante…”

You pointed at the adorably small, yet otherwise decently chunky combat boots that were by the shoe rack in the hallway, one of your most prized possessions. 

“Oh. Yeah my bad.” That Sparda brain cell comment seemed horrifyingly accurate. You wondered if that's why he called you smart. 

Unfazed by his own mistake, Dante continued and didn't really seem to mind. He must have been used to being oblivious to a lot of things, you thought. 

“V told me he helped you with your stuff. Was there anything else you needed or wanna know?”  
You didn't know if you should ask, but you went ahead and asked.   
“Is this… Normal? I mean you're my boss…”  
Dante made a dismissing hand gesture and scoffed playfully. 

“Yeah, this is normal. We're more like a little dysfunctional family here. But that's fine by me and I wouldn't trade the world for it.” 

Well, this is definitely a stark contrast to law enforcement… You were used to either working with a partner driving around in civilian clothing, conducting stakeouts, or driving around in your police cruiser trying to pester anyone conducting the slightest bit of mischief. Eventually, you were allowed to set up your own freelance private investigator firm, and you worked alone. Your methodologies were questionable at times, but that was your secret to success, at such a young age at that.

Your conversation drew V's attention and he had his own two cents to contribute.

“By normal he also means that his diet consists of ice cream, pizza and liquor.”  
Dante whipped around, pouted and barked at V. “Hey! Pretty boy! Mind your own business and keep making your fancy food.”

As he turned back around to face you, he was met with your mildly disappointed but amused expression. “Seriously?” You asked.   
“I mean, yeah… But what's wrong with that?”  
Each to their own, you guessed. You shrugged and pulled out a stool to sit next to Dante at the counter. 

“So where is everyone else?”  
“V is the only person who's awake before noon. I'm up… because I was expecting you. Otherwise, don't expect me to be up before lunch time.” 

Dante seemed fairly confident and straightforward with this, and it surely wasn't very professional, but it was becoming more and more clear to you that whatever situation you'd gotten yourself into will be a lot more laid back and unofficial, but also shadier than anticipated. 

Which is good, you couldn't imagine having to be up tight and professional 24/7 with this sort of arrangement. Not that you were capable of that anyway, considering the very reason Dante hired you.

“Uh let's see…” He scratched his facial scruff, and thought for a moment.   
“Nero is still out on a mission. I sent him out last night. Should be back soon. But the others are still in bed I think. I told everyone that you're coming today and that I'd like to spend the day just getting to know each other a bit.”

“Really?” You sort of had trouble believing that, it seemed a bit too kind for a live in-work living situation.   
“You're going to be getting a lot closer to all of us than you would at a 9-5 office job in the world's most cramped and tiny cubicle, sweet cheeks. So yeah I think it's important we get along.”

It was sort of pleasantly surprising, but the rational side of you worried a bit about the other possible implications of being so close to them, long term, and having to still carry on with your main focus-job. Could you even focus with a bunch of superhuman men in the damn room?

With your other fellow officers and detectives you never really had that problem, because there was a thick layer of ‘fake it til you make it’ glazed over the description of your duties, and once the shift was over they’re dead to you, at least in your eyes. You only really had your eyes on the job, and the clock. Not on any of your coworkers.

You couldn't help but notice that there's definitely going to be some sexual tension, at the very least between you and Dante. Definitely up your alley. A rather inappropriate question popped up in your mind though, but then again, you had so many other questions.

“So I know Dante… You're related to Sparda. So who exactly are the rest? Is V your sibling? And Nero?

V seemed to be shocked by your question, and pressed his lips together. Strange. But Dante still answered your question. 

“Vergil is my twin brother. He's not here right now. V… Long story.”  
“And Nero?”  
“Vergil's son, my nephew.”  
“Okay...And Nero’s mother? Anyone else married or something? Anything else I need to know?” You left V out even though he seemed quite young, around your age. You figured maybe he’s adopted or something. Who knows. But he seems to have the same kinds of demonic abilities.

V let loose an amused sigh: “Here we go…” 

You didn't know what to make of that. Dante raised an eyebrow at you, seemingly knowing exactly why you asked and left V out. Maybe V knew, too. Then again you were an investigator by trade, asking questions is your thing.

“Nobody here has cuffed anyone, yet. Nero used to be dating this girl, Kyrie but they broke off shortly after the drama in Red Grave happened...”

You didn't know why, but Dante seemed eager to elaborate on it some more. Sounds like some juicy gossip or tea to you. He blissfully ignored your question about Nero's mother, but that escaped you for now, seeming irrelevant anyway.

“I met Nero about 5 ish years ago here in Fortuna. Back then, this city was stricken by some lame cult claiming to worship my father. Used to be an orphan, because Vergil is an idiot apparently.” You tried to ignore Dante’s little bouts of shade he kept throwing at Vergil, so you asked, “Your father?” 

You lived a couple of hours away on the mainland before, and you did know Fortuna was known for being isolated and mysterious.   
“Yeah. Bunch of morons. This girl Kyrie and her brother Credo took him into their ‘Order of the Sword’ as a kid and they raised him. 

Ah. So his mom is gone… 

Due to the relative similarity in age, you figured that V may be Nero's sibling or adopted or something of the like, and that thought was enough to satiate your curiosity even though it may not be true. Anyway, Dante had more to say. Maybe too much to say.

“Turns out they're a bunch of corrupt idiots and they were using Nero, but were ready to kick him out and use him for experiments.”

You slowly nodded, silently urging him to continue. Now he has your attention...

“A bunch of crazy stuff happened, he was kidnapped and stuck inside a statue and they kidnapped his lady friend, yada yada. I had a hunch back then, but it turns out he's my dumbass brother's son. I knew we were related because Vergil’s sword reacted to him. I knew he sure wasn't my kid… So, must have been Vergil.”

“So that’s how you found out he's your nephew?”  
“Yup.”

You could tell V was somewhat tense and annoyed, as he was starting to eat his breakfast. He was staring holes into Dante's back. That didn't escape you, but you kept your mouth shut.

“Anyway, this girl. She raised Nero and he caught some feelings for her. The brother died in another stupid cult accident, not the best topic for Nero.”

Dante sipped on his coffee with a smug grin on his face. “So there's that. Otherwise, everyone else is on the market, including him, oh and me of course. And the ladies.”

He winked at you and you rolled your eyes. 

“Hey now, I'd rather you ask these kinds of things. It's crucial to stay transparent here. We can't let any stupid beef get between us and our jobs.”  
“Right… So how old is he? Sounds awfully young.”  
“He's about your age, if I can recall your birthday from the paperwork you gave me. So yeah he's pretty young. But you’re also pretty young for being such an established cop…”  
“Thanks...I see.” 

You started to worry if Nero would also be… An issue. If he resembles Dante or V in any capacity considering he's a Sparda, he'd also definitely be a sight for sore eyes. Living part-time with three attractive men wasn't a bad prospect at all, but you knew just how messy things can get inside your mind. 

“And what about you?” Dante asked pretty innocently, and it was perfectly fine considering he just revealed so much to you.   
“I haven't been seeing anyone for a while now. Nothing to worry about on my end.” You smiled, and Dante looked you in the eyes for a second or two, a bit more intensely than before. 

V, who had been minding his own business left the kitchen rather briskly. “I shall check the mail and check in on our contacts.” 

Dante gave him a silent nod, and V practically power walked straight out of the kitchen back around the corner. Now, you were both alone. The stool Dante was sitting on creaked as he dragged it across the floor, scooting closer to you. The sound made you cringe for a moment. 

“So about Nero-,” He lowered the volume of his voice considerably compared to earlier. You thought he was going to spill the beans about V and Nero, or confirm your suspicion. But that wasn't the case.

“I'll keep an eye on him for ya. I'm gonna bet he's gonna be running after you in no time. Don't let it bug you though. He's still a gentleman and won't harass you. Kyrie didn't do a bad job raising him at all, don't get me wrong, but he's a bit, well, awfully immature...”

Well crap. 

“Never laid hands on a lady before, not even Kyrie. They were super religious, you know. He's as chaste as a priest with a chastity belt on his junk.”

You pinched your brow. 

Dante raised both of his hands up, and slightly shook his head, trying to make an overly dramatic innocent gesture. “Now, I didn't tell you any of that. Rodger?”

“Rod-”

The sound of the front door busting open startled you, and interrupted you. A female voice echoed through the hall, with a strong southern drawl. 

“Hold on to yer pants, here they come!” You exchanged a tense look with Dante, and he paled quickly as his pupils shrank.   
“Oh crap…” 

You saw a swirl of red and orange, following a quick flash of blue and you felt pressure on your chest, then a sharp pain against the back of your head. Your eyes were closed for the impact, but you slowly opened them dreading whatever you were about to see. Things were only getting weirder. 

Dante tackled you and forced you into the corner, and he transformed into his devil form to spread his wings around you like a shield. Nero charged through the door, straight towards you and some odd, fucked up creature that must be a demon, no less.

He flung himself head first into the dining table and snapped it in half, pots and pans fell on his head, and the creature twitched and seemed pretty dead, or at least in the process of dying to you.

You are a human, but the Devil May Cry franchise had caught your attention before, so you were no stranger to the fact that they’re otherworldly, and demonic. Some of the stuff you found during your cases was just as weird, if not weirder.

“What the hell, Nero?! That door was new!” Dante's voice sounded different while transformed, almost as if he's talking into a fan, and you silently laughed to yourself about that small observation. 

Nero didn't appear to be fully transformed, at least to you he looked largely human. You couldn't help but notice the huge blue, spectral wings and their respective appendages attached to his back, however. What a great way to be introduced to a coworker…

“Started chasing us on the way back.” He coughed and stood up and dusted his clothing off, and coughed.

Nico came around the corner, and she looked rather frustrated and annoyed. Once she noticed that you were tucked away behind Dante's wings, she spoke up. 

“Ah! You there! You must’ve been whoever Nero was talking about. Pleasure to meet ya.”

Nero was standing around awkwardly, in the pile of rubble that had been a kitchen table just a few moments ago as he mumbled something in frustration, and probably in shame as well. Usually he can dispatch demons cleaner than that.

“Are you just going to leave that thing... like that?”  
Dante reverted to his human form, figuring that the threat had passed. Rather nonchalantly, he told you: “Nah he’s fine. I’ll get rid of that thing.”

“Lemme take a look at it first!” Nico butted in, eager to inspect that creature that came barreling into the kitchen. Dante threw up his hands and backed off, and nodded his head back towards the hallway, and you figured you should scram back to your room.


	2. Turmoil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you do regret this. Just maybe. After coming face to face with a demon and Nero himself and getting into a scuffle, you second guess your decision to join up with them, but you're quickly convinced otherwise... For certain reasons.

Still somewhat disheveled and confused by what transpired in the kitchen earlier, you dared to leave your room again because your stomach was growling. If you weren't trying to lie to yourself, you were definitely debating on packing your stuff back into those boxes and going back home, to ultimately turn down the job offer. But you figured you shouldn't make such a hasty decision, after this minor inconvenience. They’re demon hunters, you should have expected to come face to face with one, the bad kind at least.

You tried to tread as quietly as possible, but you can't fool 2 demon blood-infused men with superhuman senses. Both Dante and Nero were already in the kitchen to greet you, albeit awkwardly. At least Dante was dressed now. Nero's face was so red, it looked as if he had an allergic reaction to something and was about to enter anaphylactic shock. 

“We got pizza, I bet you're hungry. Feel free to take some, y/n.”  
“Of course you got pizza, jackass!” Nero elbowed Dante and grumbled. “That's what you do every fucking day.” 

Dante simply chuckled and brushed him off.

  
“Thanks, but I think I'll pass. I'll just get some water if that's alright…” 

“Sure! Glasses are over there,” He pointed at a cupboard that seemed to be miraculously unscathed from Nero's dramatic entry. The rubble was already taken out, but the cracks and claw marks were still visible on the tiles and counters.

Trying to avoid eye contact with both of them, you made your way to the cupboard. 

...Much to your discontent, you noticed that the cups were too far back on the shelf for you to reach them. You pretended to have changed your mind, and closed the cupboard.

“Actually I'm fine. I'm not hungry at all.”

As fast as you could, you tried to book it out of the kitchen back up the stairs, but not before your stomach growled loudly and it became clear that you lied. Luckily, you had already darted back up the stairs before Dante could directly stop you. 

You were definitely debating on packing up now. You didn't really care how silly and stupid it was, but you felt extremely uncomfortable. Due to this, paired with already being starved and parched, anything sounded better than staying here. So you did exactly that, and began to pack up your things again, but not after taking a sloppy sip of water from the tap in the bathroom. Not even 5 minutes into your hasty exit plan you heard a knock on the door. 

As you scanned the door, you noticed it had a lock on it. You swiftly turned the lock, and hoped that would be enough to ward off whoever just knocked. It was silent, so you figured they must have left, and resumed packing up, fueled by frustration and anxiety. How could you actually have let this happen? It's so stupid. This house is full of maniacs. You need to get out. You should have never even come here. What were you thinking?...

Someone knocked at the door again, this time more urgently. Still no voice. You tried your best to ignore it, and be as quiet as you could on the inside while trying to pack your most valuable items back into your bag. You didn't care about leaving clothes or other smaller things behind, to be honest. You’d rather not risk your life on the daily. 

On your way up to your room, you did snatch your boots, already suspecting that you may want to plan your exit. Being stopped at the door to put your boots on would definitely bring your plan to a screeching halt. 

You had your bag with your valuables, wallet, boots tied tightly, gun ready in your holster and car keys in your hand. The rest of your stuff could rot here for all you cared. You just wanted out. A couple of deep breaths later, you decided you'd make a run for it now. 

The lock flicked open, and you practically leapt out of the doorway, trying to squeeze past whoever gets into your way. You moved so fast, you didn't even register who was actually at your door. Nor did you care. 

Much to your horror, the same menacing blue-winged man stood directly in front of the main door, barring your exit.

His expression looked beyond pissed off, and you knew right then and there that you were not leaving without a fight, and didn't care just how crazy and irrational you were acting. At the end of the day, you were trying to protect your wellbeing. If you had to, you were ready to shoot if he attacked you.

“Out of my way, you fucking freak of nature!” 

He chuckled, almost sadistically. You had no idea just how much words like these hurt Nero, though. This is exactly the kind of stuff you never want to say to Nero, ever. You had obviously stopped in your tracks, but he inched closer, slowly. You held your weapon up, finger on the trigger, and didn't budge. To you, he seemed no better than criminal scum with that attitude.

“I'll pull the trigger if you don't let me out right now, you sack of shit.”

In response, Nero drew his own gun on you, and you stared right down one of the barrels. Wait. It had two barrels? Uh oh.

He noticed that you noticed.

This man seemed to evoke pure evil to you at that moment, as he sneered and snickered at your puny form, and weapon. 

“Oh yeah, pipsqueak? Where do ya think you're goin’? Back to your police buddies?” Nero closed in on you, and you could almost feel his breath on your forehead, and his chest touched the muzzle of your weapon. He held his gun up in the air, and was pressing himself on to the muzzle of your gun with more and more pressure, taunting you. 

You snarled as menacingly as you could, which was not menacing at all. Perhaps you'd be able to scare a 5 year old off, but not him. Either way, you’ve dealt with hot headed idiots like this many times before, but they weren’t demons.The worst thing you could do is freak out, or show fear. Or shoot the target.

Not really knowing what to do, you shot at the large stained glass window above the door instead, in hopes of forcing him to move away from the falling glass. But he didn't. Like a statue, he seemed to not flinch and not care about being covered by a rain of broken glass. He wasn't even bleeding. Double Uh oh. 

“Nice try. You're not going anywhere but your own tiny little grave. You pissed off the wrong guy.” He jolted forwards, making you trip over your feet a little, he was trying to back you into a corner. 

“You know, maybe your pretty face would look even better with some bullets in it. That would also shut you up nicely, wouldn't it?”

You didn't flinch, but kept your gun pointed at him, only about an inch or two away from his face.   
“At least you have good taste. Go ahead, asshole.”

Nobody dared to talk to Nero like that. Not unless you have a death wish. 

You weren’t the only people watching this happen, the rest of the crew had gathered at the top of the stairs.They debated if they should perhaps stop him, because right now they weren't so sure if they would actually be the ones with a dead body on their hands. 

Someone must have been a bit too loud which Nero noticed, and that enraged him even more. There they were, crowded around the top of the flight of stairs overlooking the foyer in which you both stood. As a knee jerk reaction, quite literally, you tried to kick him right in the groin. Demon or not, that’s usually most men’s weak spot. From then on, you booked it.

You sped all the way outside of the city limits, shortly before you came to a rest stop before the bridge that linked this blasted island to the rest of the world. Hurriedly you tried to compose yourself and process what just happened. Breathing heavily, you couldn't really hear anything from your surroundings and didn't hear tires screeching and a huge van pulling up behind you, almost rear ending you. All you could hear was your own heart pounding and blood rushing in your ears.

A glance in your rear view mirror revealed that it was Nico. And Nero. At this point you were honestly ready to shoot both of them in the face and making it sloppy, if that meant getting off of the island alive. Oh how shady you indeed were. You took a deep breath, and readied your gun again, cocking it and double checking your ammo.

Much to your surprise, both of them got out of the van, hands in the air, and you saw Nero drop his gun. What you didn't know was that he also had no devil breaker equipped, he was totally unarmed. But you weren't aware that he usually wore one. You also didn't know he had a sword, but he also didn't have that with him either. 

Knowing he had that weird extendo-arm, you weren't convinced they meant no harm quite yet. You kicked the door open and stepped out, swiftly turning around on your heels and drawing your gun on both of them. 

“Do you freaks have nothing better to do? Just let me fucking go already! I’d rather stay alive and mind my own business than deal with this demon bullshit.”Deep down, this really hurt Nero, Nico; not so much. She knows it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Nico let out a sad sigh and lowered her arms, letting them droop at her sides. Nero looked at you, like you just kicked his puppy, that is assuming he had the heart to care, should someone kick his theoretical puppy. He didn't look like he was about to place two bullets into your skull like he did earlier, but he actually seemed close to tears. 

“Oh stop bluffing, dickhead. Go ahead. Pick up your fancy weapon. Shoot me. You’re going to get into a hell of a lot of trouble for killing me though.”

You didn't know what sort of crazy had overcome you, but you were so stressed and ready to be done with this stupid situation even if it meant you're going to be the one with a bullet, or two, right between her eyes.

He didn't pick up his weapon though, or try to strangle or grab you with that arm of his. Nico covered her eyes, fearing Nero was going to pick up his gun and shoot, or otherwise snuff you out within a second.

Nero knew you were going to shoot. He saw your fingers pulling the trigger in slow motion, thanks to his enhanced senses. 

And so you did, you shot 3 times, one bullet straight at his heart, the second at his thigh, aiming for his femoral artery, the third at his neck, at his carotid artery. Had he been a human, this would have been a clean kill, with 100% precision and no chance of survival.

He flinched. But he didn't topple over and start bleeding out like a human would. You froze, and didn't know what to do. You only had a few rounds in your gun and you just spent 3. If those shots didn't kill him, you figured a shot to the head won't faze him either. It was hard to grasp the sight before you, as if trying to kill someone and pulling the trigger wasn’t stressful enough, seeing them defy the laws of nature sure does add some extra spice to it. You rarely had to actually shed any blood during the job.

“What kind of fucked up shit is this?!” You screamed. Nico took her hands off her eyes when she realized that the shots were yours, and you were very much alive and well to be yelling like that. 

“Y/n we ain't here to hurt’cha. We're here to say sorry. This really doesn’t happen every day.”  
In disbelief, you squinted and scoffed. 

Your voice was considerably shaky, but you didn’t let that stop you. “I don't really care, how about you tell me what the fuck is wrong with Mr. Freak over here?”

Nico had to withhold giggle, but she still let out a disappointed sigh. If she was disappointed in you or Nero, you didn't know. 

“Hon, he's a demon. You ain't gonna hurt him. Not with that,” she said, as she motioned to your rather pitiful excuse for a weapon.

“Then why did he try to trap me, and threaten to kill me when all I did was try to leave?!”

“Y/n, that’s just who he is. You’re a well known agent, you bust some kinds ‘a people we can’t bust. He doesn't do well with that sort ‘a stuff. He’s really protective.”

“That's just who he is? Bullshit. And why would I come all this way just to snitch on you when any of my backup would be mowed down to shreds?”

This time, Nero tried talking to you, totally unfazed by the fact you just shot him. Skillfully at that. You also gave him the most intense verbal smacking he'd ever received in a while, if not ever. And you will live to tell the tale!

“Listen y/n, I'm sorry. I have a shitty temper. I can't explain what happened after I came home either. When you tried to leave I just felt really on edge and I didn’t want to even think about what would happen if you went back and sent cops our way…”

“I’m not that petty or stupid enough to send armed men to shoot at some weirdos who can shrug off bullets.”

Nico elbowed him, urging him to continue. He seemed hesitant. 

“You're the only person who's spoken to me like that and wasn't afraid of me at all. If you can deal with me and trust me and Dante, you’ll be safe from those things. I promise.” 

In the blink of an eye, he turned beet red. You didn’t really know if it was anger or embarrassment. Either way, you didn’t care. For all you cared, you wanted him to die of embarrassment.

The rest came out as a grumpy mumble that you couldn’t decipher, but he felt he said enough. 

“So why didn't you turn me into a pulp then, Mr. Demon?” Nero seemed to be lost in thought for a few moments, and didn’t answer at first.

“Demon.”  
“Freak.” 

That really hurt, but he was trying to contain himself for the greater good. Nero turned to Nico, and was still baffled and taken aback by the “sheer size of your metaphorical balls to talk to him like that, draw a gun and shoot at him, all that while being under 5 feet tall,” according to him.

You chuckled triumphantly. “It's because I'm tiny, and you weren't expecting it, that you didn't pulverize me on the spot then, huh?”

Nero looked at the ground and shuffled his feet nervously. “Probably. Listen, don’t enjoy that too much. I will crush you if-” He stopped himself, realizing he was letting his emotions get the better of him, and that he’d be an idiot to hurt you.

He stepped closer, seemingly more desperate and pleading. Cautiously, you backed up and placed your finger back on the trigger, even though you knew now that shooting him won’t do anything.

“Listen I know I sound like the biggest jackass, but we need someone like you to help us. I'm serious, this doesn’t happen often. None of us are really thay fucking bright. Just trust us. Please?”

You were frankly quite amused that he would admit to that, and you also found it amusing that your true value had been realized. You didn't immediately give him an answer, you wanted to ride out that ego boost for a while. Also, what you did notice, was that he was actually quite handsome when he wasn't giving you a death glare. 

God Damnit. You still didn't quite like him though. You still didn’t know what to think of him, but you sure did have a healthy dose of fear.

“Those shots were also really good,” He added rather humbly. “Not even Trish or Lady are that good.”  
“I’ve been trained by the government to kill efficiently if need be. What else did you expect?”  
Ignoring his attempt at flattery, you barked back again, “Do you know how absurd this is?”  
“Yes, I do.” Nero bowed his head in shame, and all you could see were his red ears on each side of the white, fluffy head of hair in front of you.

You don't know if you perhaps truly didn't want to leave in the first place or not, but you were quick to convince. Maybe because it inflated your ego a bit, maybe not. Most likely, that was the case though. Demons were also certainly more interesting than a bunch of drugged up criminals with too many guns, or people too deranged for law enforcement to want to deal with, even though you instantly feared for your life so much more.

You were definitely a feisty one, and would be an extremely valuable teammate. It took a huge chunk of Nero's pride to agree to personally tag along to chase you down and convince you to stay. But everyone agreed that you're definitely far too useful to let go like that. 

“I evidently suck at killing demons though.”

All three of you laughed, but Nero objected and resumed a serious tone and expression. 

“Nah, you're not here to kill demons. You're here to help with the brains, we help you out with your stuff, and we can probably stop this kind of stuff from happening with a little help on both sides.” He gave you a genuine smile. Or tried. He still looked scared, like a kid with stage fright.

Seems like it's his turn with the brain cell.

You raised a brow at him, expecting more. Nero scratched his nose nervously, a habit you would start to see a lot more of. “I know you would have killed me if I were a human, you’re no joke, I know that.” Again, you raised your brow, even higher this time.

“I'm also sorry for calling you a… Pipsqueak.”  
“I'm used to it,” you replied. “By all means, call me that, if you want.”

The next one took him a bit longer to find the words for. You noticed he did seem to leave part of his original words out.

“Y/n... I'm sorry for threatening to kill you. I'm not going to shoot you in the head, I promise I'll never hurt you.”  
“I also promise to not call you tiny anymore.”

Both of them giggled, before finally asking if you'd drive back with them now, to which you agreed.

“Hon, you must be starvin’. They told me what happened in the kitchen.”  
“Also, I moved the cups and plates so you can reach them…” Nero added, blushing a tiny bit.   
In a sarcastic tone, you said “Wonderful,” before getting back into your car. “Let's go back then.”

* * *

As you headed into the main foyer, you finally got to see the whole crew this time. You did feel a tad embarrassed, but your pride quickly trumped that feeling. After all, they liked what they saw and liked that you actually threatened Nero like that and even shot him and kicked him. Almost like a concession, they all saluted to you. You thought this was kind of silly, but okay. Dante came to pat you on the shoulder, ignoring your presumably weakened state. 

“Damn, you are one hell of a badass woman. I'm glad you decided to stay. Sorry for that scene.”

You rolled your eyes, but you were interrupted by the sudden movement. He wasn't necessarily being gentle or very considerate of your size and his “pat” almost knocked you off your feet. Nero barreled towards you to break your fall, catching you in his arms, even though his footing was still rather weak. You noticed that he must have changed, all the blood was gone, and he was wearing sweatpants.

“Watch it, old man! You’re the one that wanted her back so badly.” Nero’s whole chest trembled as he spoke, you were still slouched in his arms, before he picked you up back to your feet. Just from briefly being pressed to him you could tell his body was just as chiseled as his uncle's.

Somehow, you felt as if he was treating you like some kind of delicate and expensive vase that almost tipped over. You could get used to that. 

“Sorry y/n,” He muttered back to you. To be honest you were quite used to people accidentally manhandling you. You weren't just petite, you were genuinely tiny. 

Picking up the conversation again, Dante asked you what kind of food you liked. He could only imagine just how hungry you must be now, and he felt really stupid for pointing you to a cabinet you can't reach. Nero personally moved all of the silverware and dishes around so that you could reach them now, which surprised you considering you had the worst start with him by far. At least he seemed to genuinely be sorry about what happened earlier. Sorry for at least part of it.

However, you would still be skeptical of any seemingly nice action of his, probably for a very long time. It just appeared so disingenuous, or forced by the hand of Dante. Why he bothered to catch you is beyond you, though. Falling to the ground wouldn’t have actually really hurt you too much compared to what you already endured. Maybe a few bruises and some back pain for a couple of days.

“So… Do you want a donut and some coffee then?” Lousy joke Dante, lousy joke.  
“I’ve heard that a million times Dante. Anything is fine to me, I'm beyond starving.”  
“We've got…. Pizza and some salad, and uh-” Dante struggled to identify these foreign foodstuffs. He was used to pizza. “I don't know what that other stuff is but help yourself.”  
“Keep in mind I can't even eat that much.”  
“I know, more leftovers for me!” Dante patted his own stomach, and you rolled your eyes at him. 

You sat back down in the kitchen, at the counter. Lady and Trish seemed pretty nice, but definitely were a lot more conservative than Nico. They decided to try to make lasagna, emphasis on try. It didn’t escape you that they didn’t really seem to know what they were doing, but you appreciated the effort. You still felt a bit sickly and didn't want to upset your stomach though. 

Hesitantly, you simply just asked for a sandwich.

“A sandwich?” Trish asked you, with a hint of disbelief.  
“Yes? A sandwich.”  
“Okay… One sandwich? Two? Three?”  
“One… Sandwich.” You held up one finger, and repeated yourself. “Just one.”

Trish laughed, and explained that usually she has to make about 10 to satisfy Dante or Nero’s hunger. Definitely a welcome change.

She brought you your plate, and as she set it down, she said, “Here is your one sandwich.”

You laughed, but your grumbling stomach interrupted you. “Thank you, uh…”

“Trish. My name is Trish. Guess I should have told you earlier.” She smiled softly, before she turned around again. You felt a tad bit embarrassed to eat something, they were all watching you intently, almost worried. It has always bugged you a bit that you seem to evoke worry in everyone who surrounds you if you were hungry, or otherwise needed something. You felt the tension drop off in the room as you devoured your sandwich rather quickly, at least for your standards.

A bit too much of the tension seemed to drop off, a metallic, hard hand brushed against your back, rubbing it gently. “Glad you’re feeling better.”

With godspeed, you snapped your neck around, almost giving yourself a bad case of whiplash. You met Nero with a rather intense glare. Silently, you mouthed “What the hell?” and he withdrew his hand quickly. Did he just forget your fight? That you shot him? That he threatened to kill you? You ignored the fact that it was a metal hand for now, and it slipped past your conscious thoughts.

“S-sorry…” His face lit up in a deep crimson color, a trend you were beginning to catch on to.  
“Did you forget I fucking shot you less than an hour ago?”  
“I… I mean it’s not a big deal, I understand you were mad… I was just trying to-”  
“Yeah but imagine if you weren’t some immortal special snowflake? You don’t grab people who tried to kill you, for fuck’s sake.”

Like a hit dog, he backed off, and had a rather sad expression on his face. Still, you thought he was bluffing and you did not trust anything he said or did. Dante pulled him to the side, but you couldn’t hear what they were saying. You assumed Dante was scolding him, and let out a satisfied hum. 

V, who you met first, sat down next to you. Out of all of them, you liked V the most right now. He was the only one who had been truly kind and thoughtful towards you, and wasn’t acting bizarre in some way, like just about everyone else here. It seemed like V was making a joke at Nero’s expense, when he repeated the same thing he had said to you:

“Glad you’re feeling better.”

It sounded so much more kind and genuine coming from him. Did that make you a hypocrite? Maybe. Did you care? No.

Just like Nero, he also extended one of his inked arms to stroke over your rather tiny back, and he startled when he noticed that one hand was all he needed. At first you shuddered at his touch, but you leaned in after a few moments. You weren’t paying that much attention, but you could tell V must have been giving Nero a smug look, based on Nero’s expression which you observed opposite of you.

You couldn’t tell if V was doing this purely to spite Nero who was watching, or if V was acting on his own accord and just wanted to rub some salt in the wound while he was at it. Since you were incredibly stressed and had injuries, it didn’t occur to you that perhaps it was odd, that you were leaning into V tending to the wound at the nape of your neck.

Your eyes almost fell shut then and there.

The tiredness was definitely creeping up on you, and it wasn't even that late into the afternoon. Sure, the last couple of hours have been quite intense but it's not anything you can't handle. Or was it?

Struggling to stay awake, you almost collapsed against V, who moved his stool slightly behind yours so he could work on your back easier. It was a bit awkward, but you needed that and he could tell. You picked yourself back up, and V left to tend to some other things in the office. 

Trish said that it looks like “lunch” is most likely going to be dinner too, and Dante asked you if that sandwich was enough for now. You nodded at him, tiredly. 

“I just need a nap for now…” your body keeled backwards and Dante caught you. It seems you have a habit of dramatically falling or losing your footing. You swear it's not on purpose, but you didn't mind them each rushing to catch you. 

He chuckled softly, “Alright then.”

Dante brought you back up to your room, and was delighted by just how light you were to pick up. It's as if he was carrying around a piece of paper. He had to resist the urge of tossing you around through the hallway, and up the stairs. 

He opened up the door and laid you down on your bed. You sat up as he set you down, and you blinked a few times, with your vision still being a tiny bit blurry. “It's okay, you get some rest, food will be there when you wake up.”

You grabbed Dante's hand as he was about to get up. 

“Y/n?”

“... What's the deal with Nero? Why is he acting so weird?” Dante wasn't expecting that question. Especially since you just came to your senses,and the first thing you pressed him about was Nero.

He took a deep breath and glanced at the door. For some reason, he shut it, you weren't sure why other than assuming that he was planning on staying up here with you. 

“Be easy on him, okay? He's a huge klutz. He's still figuring stuff out. We’re also not on the best terms with the police since we either tend to meddle in their stuff or solve it for them and vice versa. And they don’t credit us, they just throw stupid fines at us.”

“I can tell, he's an absolute moron, but why is he acting so different? Did you tell him to?”

He shook his head, surprised that you would assume that. 

“Look, kid, I'm gonna tell you the same thing I said earlier. He's probably gonna be running after ya in no time.” 

Annoyed, but intrigued, you tilted your head slightly.

“Yeah you may have shot him and directly insulted him but he doesn't have the best… Judgement. I don't blame you for doing that, I've beaten my own brother up more times than I can count and I was certain I killed him before, but I'd have to agree that it's a bit hasty to forget you fully intended to kill him.”

“Yes… It is…”

Dante exhaled slowly and gave you a reassuring look, and a warm smile. He also placed one of his hands atop yours. “As I said. He probably just thinks you're pretty. He's a simple guy.” 

“Simple men stay away from women who shoot them.”  
“That doesn't change that he probably thinks you're hot.”  
“Not that you aren't pretty though, you're drop dead gorgeous- but Nero isn't as smooth as I am.” Dante smiled at you and laughed heartily, mostly at his own joke. 

“That was… Not that bad actually.” You teased him slightly. “But I'll take it.”

Again, you wondered just how messy this will get with them.

No, you intended to never let anything happen because this was still a job. Despite Dante being attractive, to you he seemed too much like a fatherly figure to let your mind wander into the gutter with him. That would be tough, because he’s definitely not your real father. You could tell he must have felt the same way.

Your former coworkers were nothing special really, they all looked the same, talked the same, and had the same names.

Nero though… He's quite the tough nut for you to crack. Yes, he's undoubtedly handsome, probably has a good and squishy fragile heart deep down, and he almost certainly has the body of a Greek God.

But boy, did his personality seem cryptic. There was so much garbage to unpack here- you just wanted to throw it away. No, burn it. His personality seemed much like a dumpster fire in all aspects, but also like some sort of grotesque trainwreck; the ones you can’t stop staring at.

You really needed to get your head out of the clouds now, though. Your professionalism has always taught you to never give in to the superficial charm of someone like Nero, but that stupid fascination was a bit too strong here, similar to how some women would flock to public trials of serial killers. He wasn't a killer though.

Dante interrupted your train of thought, thank God. 

“Does your back or neck still hurt?”  
“I’ll be fine. Just need some rest.”

After a couple of moments, you melted into your bed like putty and fell asleep once again. Dante pulled the covers over you, and took one last glance at you as he was about to close the door and head back downstairs. Had you seen that, you would be getting even more dad-vibes from him. You did kind of feel bad for thinking that he’s still one hell of a dilf.


	3. Suspicions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're confronted by Nero for the first time after your conflict, and this all seems very fishy to you. But he quickly and masterfully disassembles your doubts. Damn him for that and his looks. You'd try your best to keep a healthy dose of fear, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This gets very suggestive and stupid. This is how Nero flirts and you can pry that from my cold dead hands. Otherwise, enjoy! :)

Dante rejoined Nero, Lady and Trish back in the kitchen, and Nico joined after a while. They were indeed talking about you, as you suspected once you were out of hearing range. Nero was sitting on a recliner he dragged into the kitchen. Was that out of place? Weird? Yes. But to him, it still weighed nothing, and it was just like grabbing an extra chair into the room.

“I got mad respect for ‘er. I know she’s a cop and all. I was there for the shooting stuff. Woman’s got some balls,” Nico remarked, while snuffing her cigarette into the ashtray. 

“Plus she ain’t stupid. She knew where to shoot. Although she coulda just gone for ‘is balls with the gun, to add insult to injury.”

Nero rolled his eyes, but he was thankful that you hadn’t done that. Those are still sensitive parts, even if he is a demon.

“But that gun o’ hers is garbage. I’ll make ‘er somethin’ better.” She smiled, and it seemed like she was already mentally mapping out what she wanted to build. 

“Definitely needs a silencer. I don’t care if that shit’s illegal. I’m gonna make the best one there is, so if you’d excuse me, I got work to do, guys and gals.” And with that, she trotted off to the garage and began working. 

Dante, being someone who enjoys the flashiness of his guns asked a rather stupid question, and Nero seemed to be on the same page as well. “But why a silencer?”

Lady rolled her eyes. “She shot the window, and Nero, 3 times Dante. People heard that. If she’s that eager to shoot stuff, she’s going to need a silencer. They’re technically illegal so not even she is allowed to carry a gun with a silencer on it.”

“Oh.. Right.” Nero was glad he hadn’t echoed Dante, but he still blushed a bit. “You better fix that window too at some point,” she added.

“Sure thing.” Dante was certainly planning on just hiring someone to replace it, even though it’s a waste of money. He didn’t mind though. The payoff was worth it.

“Man, I think I drank some idiot juice this morning. Sorry.” Everyone startled as Griffon swooped out of the air into the room, perching on the old-fashioned chandelier, causing it to dangerously rock back and forth.

“Looks like it’s not your turn with the brain cell today, huh Dante?”  
“Oh shut up, bird brain.” Dante tossed a toothpick at the bird. Not that it would do much…

Everyone including Griffon had a laugh at his expense. It was indeed not his turn with the brain cell today. It was probably Nero’s turn, by the looks of it. Everyone had said something at this point, except Nero. Of course, he was kind of the catalyst for the whole issue.

“So what are your thoughts, Nero?” Dante asked rather smugly.  
His face turned bright red, his ears too. “She’s definitely got the stuff, yeah.”   
“Anything else?” Dante snickered. He was alluding to what he told you earlier, trying to get that out of him. 

“Not that I can think of, no.” He did think though, a lot. Nero is hard to impress, but everything about you blew his expectations of a woman out of the water, surpassing Kyrie who seemed like an angel herself. You were more like… Some sort of scary, puny demigod.

Everyone noticed how weird Nero was acting, he’s not a very subtle or sneaky person at all. But he had crashed into you earlier with a demon in tow, so they kind of figured that’s why he may be acting strange, and blamed it on the incident instead.

V hadn’t been here, but he came back to check on Griffon, and he’d been indirectly listening via him. All he said was that he likes you, which struck Dante as odd. Then again all of V was odd, in one way or another.

Dante tugged on Nero’s shoulder as he was about to get up along with everyone else, and gave him a smug grin. He really knew him too well. “Not so fast buddy,” He said.

“I need to have a word with you Nero.”  
“Yeah?”

He lowered his voice, and gave him a stern look.

“Do me a favor. Don’t be so harsh on her and control yourself, alright?” He knew very well that this has 2 different meanings. He didn’t think that his little tactic would work out so well. It worked like a charm.  
“Ew, Dante. I would never. That’s fucking disgusting. You’re the dirty old man here!”

The most sly, mischievous shit-eating grin spread across Dante’s face, and Nero went pale, realizing he'd just fallen for his trap. “Oh, _shitfuckinghell_. Fuck you Dante!” He smashed his hand on the counter, and it cracked.

**Dante has the brain cell now!**

“I’m just a guy okay, I don’t care about her stupid badge. I’m more likely to put some bullets inside her than anything else your dirty fucking mind was thinking of,” He hissed under his breath, trying to not shout. 

“You’re supposed to protect her, and take some orders, like the rest of us. And you won’t be putting anything of yours in anyone if you keep up that attitude.”

“All I’m saying is you should control yourself, or we’ll have a problem.”  
“You’re disgusting, you know that?” Dante rolled his eyes in amusement.   
“Yeah, why don’t you go and tell her just how disgusting I am?” Nero didn’t answer, but he considered doing it just to spite Dante.

“Just hold on to your horses, boy. You beat your daddy while he was down, but you don’t stand a chance against me, or both of us combined.”

Nero furrowed his brow. “That’s how much you care about that dumb bitch? You’d throw hands over her? You’re a fucking creep.Why did you have to involve the police of all people?”

“So you think you’re better than her?”  
“Yeah I’m not that disrespectful to strangers, I don’t have a fucking deathwish.”

To further cement his point, he let some of his stronger demon form manifest. “You’re just like your father. Total disregard for others, all you want to do is save face. You don’t have that heart of yours anymore, do you?”

**Ouch.**

Nero couldn’t even answer or snap, but tears shot to his eyes, and he dashed out of the room, back to his own room.That made Dante’s heart heavy, but he felt that was necessary. And it confirmed his suspicions. All of those harsh words were utter bullshit. 

Nero was definitely desperately hiding something so insignificant and tiny, but his pride forbade him to say it. He cursed himself and beat himself up for netting himself yet another huge emotional punch to the face, courtesy of Dante, all because he felt the need to save face.

You woke up when you heard a door slam in the hallway, as well as a loud ‘fuck’ coming from the other room. You could tell it was Nero. The interruption annoyed you, but you turned around and closed your eyes again.

You weren't necessarily worried, but knowing he's nearby and seems to have the room right next to you did make you feel uneasy. Much to your surprise, you heard a knock on your door. It was Nero, again. Now you were a bit more alert...

Silently, you just pretended to be asleep. You didn't know that this motherfucker could literally sense that as well. “I know you're not asleep, y/n.” Crap.

“What do you want?” you yelled, through the door.   
“Can I just talk to you?” 

That was utterly confusing and terrifying, even though you bested him, you developed a healthy sense of fear for him in the past hour. But you said yes. Slowly, he opened the door, popping his face in, which was already flushed by a deep red color. He looked scared and nervous. 

“For fucks sake, Nero, can you stop bluffing?”   
“I'm not,” He said calmly, yet somewhat defeated as he fully stepped into the room.  
“Whatever, just make it quick, I'm still tired and you woke me up with your door slamming.”

He muttered a quick “Sorry” before walking towards your bed. Little did he know, you had put your gun under your pillow and made sure to disable the safety and cock it, in case he should get any funny ideas. In one swift motion, you drew the gun on him again. You knew it wouldn't hurt him, but it still served as a warning and a pretty steadfast indicator of just how much you distrusted him. 

“I don't have any weapons on me, look for yourself.”

He shook his hoodie after taking it off, turned the pockets inside out, and tossed it on the bed. Then, he stuck his hands inside his sweatpants pockets and pulled them out. 

“See? Nothing.” 

After shedding the hoodie, you couldn't help but stare for a bit. You didn't think that his triceps and biceps would be so huge, and those alone seemed like weapons, his whole arms and upper torso seemed like that. Especially since the baggy and rather long jacket hid much of his form. 

Underneath, he wore a rather tight and form fitting gray and red tank top. For a moment his physique caught you off guard. You'd always been a sucker for men built like that, but that thought quickly vanished from your mind, albeit forcibly. 

After you managed to pry your eyes from his body, not very discreetly at that, your speech was a bit slurred and disorganized. Very out of character for you.

“Yeah well, uh... You... You have that weird blue arm! And the wings!”  
He let his spectral arm as well as wings materialize, and flexed his... Claws or fingers, with a fiendish smile. “This?”

You shuddered and moved backwards into your blankets and bed, and raised your gun again, with shaky hands. He began to approach the bed, keeping his wings extended. “I already promised to not hurt you.” 

He grabbed your gun quickly, with his demonic arm, plucking it out of your hands effortlessly. It hit the ground with a loud thump, you were sure something broke.

“-So you shouldn't hurt me either.” 

You let out a sigh, you knew he was right, and you lowered your gaze to the floorboards, where your gun laid. Gradually lowering his voice and becoming more tense, he continued.

“Look, I'll literally take everything off, do your cop-strip-search-thing, ‘spread your legs and cough’ bla bla, I don't care. I'm not going to hurt you. I know you have every right to be scared as shit, but I'd rather you trust me so I can protect you and do some of your weird cop shit.”

Protect you? Take everything off?

You admitted to yourself that you wished you could explore his body like that, maybe not all the cavities though, but the voice of reason was still there, albeit faint. You tried to stay cool. You cursed yourself for letting yourself acknowledge that you're clearly attracted to him. 

“First of all, that's a body cavity search you’re thinking of. Second, no thanks.”

You thought it was odd he was willing to just… Strip to win your trust. He’s definitely doing that not only to prove he has no weapons on him, criminals often do this but little did they know you check in all holes, but he was trying to get you to submit with his looks, hoping those glances that you gave him earlier were telling enough to rest assured that you thought he was attractive at the very least.

You don't think he was smuggling a gun in his digestive tract, but he most certainly thinks he can use his looks against you, and he’d be correct. Usually that’s not like him at all, but Nero felt he’d screwed up enough already. What else is there to lose?

Your heart sank, both due to relief of him seeming to be honest and also utmost anxiety; your gut feeling still told you that he's about to strangle you and end your life right here because he’s probably just trying to trick you. Which was honestly fine by you… You've had so much more than enough at this point. 

He definitely terrified you in a way nobody had ever done to you before, and you felt your anxiety skyrocket into extremes that could impact your vital signs, and Nero knew he had to convince you quickly. You know you were an absolute nobody in comparison, he could snuff you out instantly even while butt-ass-naked. 

This was definitely the first time your nerves have ever been tested this far. You knew Dante was a zillion times more powerful in theory, but so much more contained. You weren’t afraid of him, or V. Nero? He made the blood in your veins freeze.

Still not having given in to his attempts, he ripped his robotic arm off of his joint, revealing a perfectly fine arm, slowly materializing from a blue haze. What the hell?

“Is that a glove?”   
“Sort of. More of a prosthetic. Prosthetic turned into gauntlet. It's a weapon. But that's besides the point, here, I took it off.”

You were already convinced, but that little spark of interest which he ignited took control of your actions and words for a moment.

“Take the shirt off. I don't know where you could hide that gun.” You were playing quite stupid, you knew exactly where it is possible and impossible to hide things.

“Sure thing, officer…” He snickered, but oddly enough, the blushing stopped and instead transferred to you. In all honesty you just wanted a glimpse of him, you didn’t think he’d hide a gun in his shirt at all. This was a selfish, and stupid comment. But this side gig allowed you to still make ‘reasonable’ demands to them, and vice versa.

The corners of your mouth lifted up higher and higher, as he pulled his shirt up higher and higher. There was never a time where you actually looked forward to conducting a strip or body cavity search, and seeing nudity, you’d seen it all, good and bad, male and female.

His willingness was surely fully intentional, you kind of dropped the bomb already by suggesting he take his shirt off. Such a subtle comment given the context, but so impactful. A full 360.

Once he finished pulling his top up to his neck at an agonizingly slow pace, he winked at you, his gaze hitting you like an icy lance straight through the heart. Had you been standing, you would have keeled backwards and your knees would have given out. Your pupils widened and nearly turned black.

You had no other words for what you saw, besides mouthwatering. The way he cocked his brow at you nervously and bit his lip. At the same time, you were fairly sure this man will literally become some sort of sleep paralysis demon. Just staring at you and haunting you in your dreams.

You quickly swatted those thoughts aside and absent-mindedly made a swatting hand gesture to go along with it, which he noticed. You were still trying to fight it, but this was an uphill battle. Something inside you really liked him. You had to keep reminding yourself that he nearly killed you in cold blood earlier, it was so wrong to let your guard down but it felt so good to have control over him like this, and using it to get what you wanted to see, it seems like he was trying just as hard to break through to you for something.

“Everything alright y/n?”  
“Yeah just a bug in the air.”

Nero didn’t buy it, but continued nonetheless, ignoring your reactions and sudden spike of interest, or at least pretending to. He wanted to keep you squirming in uncertainty for just a while longer. 

While he wasn’t necessarily scared of you, like you were of him, he also felt a sick sense of attraction to you, but it didn’t quite feel like he was playing with fire. It was more like finding his achilles’ heel, and he feared the vulnerability and overbearingness you brought out in him, but he couldn't help himself to risk a little of that to see if he can have you to himself.

You would find out later that you had a much stronger penchant for playing with fire, and placing your bets ridiculously high for maximum profit. 

So small, so harsh. So innocent, so hurtful. So puny, so dangerous, he thought.

As he finally lifted the piece of clothing from his body, he said, “See, nothing here but me myself and I. Now can I please sit down?”

You felt your stomach churning, you didn’t know if it was your tiredness making you give in or his efforts, and muscles. That noticeably bigger bulge in his pants also may have worked in his favor. That was your doing. 

“Yes… Just make it short.”  
“Like you?”  
You gave him the most unimpressed glare, and he quickly wiped that smile off his face.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for earlier. I know you probably don’t wanna hear it.” Nero was debating on coming clean about the debacle with Dante earlier, but decided not to. At least, not explicitly. He felt pretty guilty after all. 

After a long pause, he scooted closer to you, and laid a hand on your thigh, over the blanket. You wanted to swat his hand while at the same time, you understood he was just trying to be earnest. You still scowled though.

“I’m gonna be 100% honest, I was so mad and I flipped out because nobody’s ever managed to screw with me like that. Especially not a woman… Not that I hate women, I just… Fuck. That sounds bad.”

You were still pleased with his response, although you expected a tad bit more.

“And you don’t look the part-” Nero coughed and cleared his throat nervously. You raised a brow.

“You just don’t look like anyone who could do that or say that in a million years, I wouldn’t even have thought you could load a gun, I didn’t think you were even a cop, no matter what Dante said. No offense though… I mean I know you can do that stuff.” 

Nero was already scratching his nose, face beet red. Whatever you’d done to him, it seems he had an equally unexplainable, monstrous and slightly concerning impact on your psyche. This wasn’t an ordinary game of cat and mouse, or cops and robbers.

Once he finished nearly scratching a scab on to his nose and looked at you, you finally spoke, and gave him the most suggestive look you could muster while doing so.

“You should show me how you load yours some time, and show me how to shoot it.” 

You’re glad you couldn’t see your own face because you’d likely cringe, but it sure did do something to him. That was definitely unprompted, inappropriate and risky. But you were feeling a tad more frisky now with the sight before you. That tent in his pants got bigger.

The expression on his face was delightful, and well worth it. It’s hard to make Nero act the way he’s been acting all day so far, but it’s also rare to pull a truly shocked expression from him, one that’s not mixed with a furrowed brow or frustration. Just pure _oof_. He doesn't ever recall being hit on. 

Especially not from someone like you. You feared him after all, that smoking body aside. Nonetheless, he almost botched the situation and froze. 

If things got tense, or unexpected things happened, you could typically find him already smirking as if he’d just hatched some sort of evil plan. No matter what it was you threw at him, he’d throw on a cocky face and pull the breaks on the situation at hand. It was a powerful yet demoralizing tool, for some reason. 

But there was absolutely no hint of that on his face right now. He blinked a couple of times, and had to look away. You could almost see those cartoon-style stars swirling around his head, dazed. After a few moments he composed himself and gave you a shit eating grin, in a true Nero fashion, looking you straight in the eye.

“Heh. I don't trust you around my valuables… But anyway… I think that’s a little too much for you to take in, let alone handle safely, for now. It would fit your hands nicely though, I'll give you that.” 

I bet it fucking would, you thought to yourself.

Your eyes widened and you started to bite your lip. He looked at your hands and took them into his to examine them, just to play along. “Wow, those are huge. Your gun must be even bigger.” _Something else is probably also huge._

“Yup I think it would fit real nicely in your hand. But you'd need both to get a nice firm grip on it.”

After you nearly bit your lip bloody, the smile on your face almost caused your jaw to ache. A quick burst of adrenaline coursed through your veins, both the adrenaline from fear and satisfaction, an odd sensation. Like playing with fire. And you liked it. Nero's crooked smirk was also threatening to escape the boundaries of his face. Both of you looked quite stupid at that moment. 

You liked that he understood that you weren't talking about his Blue Rose, and yet responded in a way so that someone may miss the mature twist if they take the sentence literally. You liked that he acknowledged that you pretty much said you want to put your hands down his pants, and entertained the mental imagery of your hands on his junk.

If you actually meant it or not, nobody knows. Yeah he’s attractive but that’s it. You probably still wanted to see if his claims are true though. 

“Too big for me? For now?” You cackled in the most evil, sadistic way that it almost scared him.  
“For now,” He repeated, giving you a crooked smile, before pressing his lips into a thin line nervously.

You let out a triumphant “Hmph.”

He had to have thought about you doing that at some point to come to that conclusion. Which yes, he most certainly did. Nero is indeed quite the chaste person, which is why he blushes so frequently. He's not necessarily comfortable with adult subjects but he's not immune to their effects and his own feelings at all. But he can't even help himself, it feels wrong to him. 

That was bound to come out at some point though. It's what ruined his relationship with Kyrie after all; trying to take that step with her felt utterly wrong and disturbing. He couldn't and didn't really want to touch her or do something else of that nature to her, but he did indeed have those sorts of thoughts about other women as he got around town more often, or just on TV and magazines. 

Since that incident he's felt almost supercharged with neediness; he's suddenly aware of the storm that had been swelling inside him, repressed. His moral compass was to blame. It's strong enough to stop the poor bastard from helping himself out and getting some relief. You couldn't pay him cash up front to do himself a solid and just jerk off. 

In the course of a few hours he brewed up so much filth in his mind, rivaling the imagination and thought process of some horny teenager. Still, he thought he'd have more control.

Snapping you out of your thoughts for a while, he laid a hand over yours. That sent another icy-hot shock through your body; both because of how suggestive all of this was, yet keeping in mind the danger and risk emanating from the devil hunter. His other hand extended towards you, stopping in mid air. He cleared his throat before asking you a simple question.

“Friends?”  
“It’s only been a couple of hours Nero, I’m not really anyone’s friend.”

This saddened him a bit, and he was disappointed that you regained your cool just as fast as he did, but you were right. The intensity of the situation at hand just made it feel more important and heavy.

“Right… I know. But you know what I’m getting at yeah?”  
“I know you saved my life. And I'm thankful for that.”  
Flabbergasted, as if he forgot it too, he replied “Oh, sure. Any time.”

You nodded, and shook his hand, but not before adding your own terms.

“Weapon-standstill. You’re still no saint to me...”  
You sneered, before finishing what you had to say.   
“Your looks won’t do you any good either.” That was a lie. A dirty lie. 

You rather obviously eyed his lap, so that he would notice. And it got even bigger.   
“... Besides me staring at you, and making comments like that. If that's what you like…”

That was very blunt but nobody else was around, and you wanted to get one last kick out of him. Quickly, he shut his legs and tried his best to cover the bulge in his pants. 

“Maybe don't comment on my junk like that if anyone's around?! Fuck.”

You just sat there in silence. You knew that he'd look up sooner or later because you went quiet. 

In a hushed tone, he inched a bit closer to you and asked, “is it really that bad?” An uneven smirk spread across your face. 

“Yes. You could hang a coat on it.”  
“Shit,” He whispered to himself, under his breath. “But at least I'm not impotent from that kick.”   
“Yet.” 

Nero stared at you in horror before you dropped the poker face. “I'm kidding.”  
This is the most red and puffed up you've ever seen him before, as if nervously scratching his nose wasn't enough, he also scratched the back of his neck. 

“I’m keeping my promises though. I won’t ever hurt you. I’ll help you out. Now let's forget that other stuff happened, I’m just a guy, okay?!”

After the nervosity faded, you smiled at him, trying your best to seem genuine. For the first time, he gave you a warm smile as well, not a smug one or cocky one. You had never felt so many mixed signals before, fear, tranquility, paranoia, relief. Again, you shook your head, trying to extinguish those thoughts, for the greater good, but it wasn’t going to work at all. 

That response of his was enough to prompt and fuel enough conspiracy theories to fill a book and require a tinfoil hat. No, a tinfoil hazmat suit. No way he’d just let you off the hook like that? You wondered if holy water or a rosary would do you any good...

It seemed like forever as he was gazing into your eyes, almost locking you in place. From this moment on, you knew this was only the beginning of trouble. So much trouble. You felt like a deer in headlights, scorched by his icy blue orbs, just like prey. You didn’t expect your raunchy efforts to do much, but maybe, just maybe, they did work. Somewhat.

“Show me your neck real quick though.”  
“Why?”  
“I can fix it.” You were confused, but let him place his hands on your neck as if you lost your mind. But you instantly felt the wound and soreness disappear, and you reached for the spot, but he caught your hand. 

“Don’t touch it for a bit. Shouldn’t hurt anymore though.” You tried to give him a dumbstruck stare, but he got a grip on himself and gave you a tired smile.  
“You won’t need that gun anymore either, it’s broken, just toss it.”

Before you could reply, he exited your room, and you stared at the broken weapon on the floor. Fuck you, Nero, you thought. You didn’t know it was because Nero knew Nico was already fitting you with a new weapon, and this just pissed you off all over again. You stood up from the bed, picked up your weapon and gave it a good look. He was right, it is broken. 

It was a law enforcement issued weapon, and you couldn’t just discard it without taking it back to a station. Letting that broken gun end up god knows where, with the signature features of a police weapon, would just raise a lot of false alarms. You’d drop it off at the local police department this coming week.

Nero also left his tank top on your bed. With a healthy dose of shame you picked it up, and inspected it. It smelled really good. 

You plopped yourself back on to the bed, and somewhat wrapped yourself back up in the covers, like a sad burrito, but you greedily kept that article of clothing clutched in your hand, like a toddler and it's comfort blanket. 

Around dinnertime, you were still fast asleep in your bed, clutching Nero's shirt. He was looking for that. But he wasn't expecting it to be so hard to get it back, as it was to get it off.

Nero opened your door slowly, after you didn't answer his knocks. He felt bad for potentially waking you up, he definitely was to blame for a lot of your stress and fatigue, and almost forgot what he came back for as he stared at your sleeping figure.

Not wanting to flip on the lights, he stepped closer to you so that he could get a good look at you. Then he noticed it: you were holding on to it. You had his tank top clutched in your hands. His face immediately went red, but the darkness would conceal that even if you were awake.

He didn't think he'd ever see someone do that with something of his, period. Much less you. While he stared, rather dumbstruck, he couldn't help but think it was cute. Adorable. 

But you were also sketchy and a tinge unpredictable all at the same time, you were also perhaps a bit dangerous to his sanity.

Keeping that in mind, he decided it's best to just leave your room, and forget this ever happened, and let you keep it. In fact, he wanted to let you keep it now that he'd found out.

He gasped sharply when your shifting startled him. Ironically, he was a bit too loud and he woke you up.

Drowsy, you tried to pry your eyes open to get a look at the sudden intruder. Instinctively you already hid the article of clothing you coveted. It was dark but you could tell that it was Nero's silhouette.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Admittedly, you didn't really think he was here to harm you but that didn't stop you from throwing that accusation at him.

Nero stammered and didn't know how to respond. Should he say he's looking for his top? Looking for something he thinks he may have dropped?

“I uh… Just thought I left something in here earlier.”  
You instantly figured he could indeed be looking for that shirt you're clutching. Uh oh.  
“Yeah, maybe that Sparda brain cell of yours,” you huffed. Solid choice to dodge the bullet.

Nero let out a small chuckle, but shook his head.  
“Never mind, I'll look somewhere else. Sorry Y/n.”

Before you could further question him, he turned around on his heels and tried to not bolt out of the room, which could raise suspicion. But you didn't really think too much of it. You're keeping that shirt of his. You don't care. With a long drawn out sigh, you laid back down and fell asleep.

Out in the hallway Nero was leaning against the wall, breathing erratically. He felt quite stupid for getting spooked by you and that leading to him being caught. After a few moments he composed himself, and thank God nobody else saw the tent in his pants. Today was quite the roller coaster ride, and he felt sleepiness tugging at the edge of his consciousness as well.

Although he literally just met you, he wished he could share his bed with you or join you in yours right there, even though he knew that was just raunchy and wrong. Not to mention he just met you but by God, he was insanely attracted to you. This is all so strange. 

He may be extra needy for the time being, but this was definitely an odd case of animal magnetism. Nero knew he'd have to place his bets carefully to avoid the steel toe of your boot.

Not wanting to deal with Dante again, he made a beeline for the bathroom instead. He stared at himself in the mirror for a solid 5 minutes, not knowing what to do with himself or what to think, if he's even thinking straight at all.

The pain was getting really bad between his legs. Truth be told, the damage from that kick had faded a few hours ago. It was hurting for another reason. The thought of having to do this dirty work seemed wrong to him, but he knew it's perfectly normal and probably healthy to let that out for once. He could barely recall the last time he did such a shameful act.

Nero double checked the lock on the door, before nearly ripping his pants off of his waist, nearly breaking his belt. He leaned against the counter and took a few deep breaths before deciding on whether or not he should really do this. The thoughts about you; seeing you hold his shirt while sleeping, your dirty comments and teasing words, they were getting to him. He couldn't really think clearly with that much dirt on his mind, hanging over his thoughts like smog over a large city.

He was somewhat mad at himself for letting you exert this much indirect control over him, let alone think of such perverted things. Guilt also washed over him when he reminded himself that he just saw you for the first time today and he just ended a relatively long relationship, which lasted a good 6 years. He never felt like this with Kyrie; but he did love her. Just in a slightly different way.

These sorts of things were something he couldn’t ever do to her, besides maybe a kiss or cuddling. Then there was another issue relating to her and sex, but that came to his attention after they had broken up, or rather was actually just one of the reasons why, actually the main reason, and explained a lot. He quickly banished those sore memories, but he cannot blame her or hold it against her. 

But, he was sort of bitter that fate dealt him this hand; because he spent all of his early 20′s so far in near celibacy, seemingly voluntarily. He respected Kyrie’s wishes to not go that far, but he wished that she would have told him sooner. 

Like, a lot sooner, that she is not straight. He generally attributes the whole mess to Kyrie being just as mixed up as he was in their ideas of what love and intimate relationships are, and the nature of their upbringing not really helping with grasping those things. All he knew is that supposedly, he is a result of a carnal relationship, from a woman who people say was a prostitute, selling sex. To someone who he knows is Vergil. 

So there was that, which led him to detest the idea of sex as a whole when he was younger, but human nature would catch up to him sooner or later, the impact worsening with each day, month, or year of delay. Ironically he used to stress the fact that he is capable of love and ‘human’ things. Well, he’s getting the full package of human nature now. Full circle. That includes urges and feelings.

Not even Dante or Nico knew the full story behind their sudden separation, but that detail is why he wasn’t fully abstinent or celibate; avoiding women, for the time being in reaction to his breakup, and it was noticeable. Which is why Dante freely mentioned it to you, that he may be after you. Nero would still be a depressed mess of a human being if it were some other factor ending their relationship, but he realizes it’s out of his control and wanted to move on.

So here he is, today, the first time he’s been completely free-or trapped, depending on how you see it, with his imagination and another woman suitable to his taste. You did this to him, in a way. It wouldn't be much harder to actually bring him to his knees. 

Kyrie also held so much power over him and his mental state, but she reigned sovereign over a different part of Nero’s thoughts… Nonetheless, she wielded the same sort of control. But she never exercised it on purpose, rather than others exploiting his weakness for her to use it against him. 

So this is the first time Nero has been confronted with his utterly predictable habit of being influenced so easily, and it being exercised on him by the very same person themselves; you in this case.

Was he weak and you're the strong one this time? Is this an exception? Is this just the control any given woman could have over him? Maybe he was discovering that he may like the idea of you controlling him, and dangling a figurative carrot on a stick in front of him.

He bit his lip even harder, causing him to bleed for a few moments before it solved itself on its own. Now, Nero was getting greedy after pushing all those thoughts and baggage aside, working his way down the list past the justification part, so that he would feel better. After clearing his conscience, he kept tugging on himself. faster and faster. It’s probably been more than half a year since he’d done this, and it was... Quite intense.

Soon enough, precum was dripping from his hand, out from between his fingers. He braced his arms on the counter to catch his breath, and his legs were shaky all over again, blushing at the thought that he’s actually trying to do this, and got so worked up over you.

You were just clouding his mind surely. Won't happen again. Women are just distractions. There’s more pressing matters to deal with. Truth be told, that wasn’t true as much as he wanted it to be true. He didn’t believe in what he was trying to tell himself.

It's taken years for him to break. And you broke, no, wrecked him in less than one day. Nero felt horribly weak and stupid. Succumbing to this stupid stuff, that he can’t help at all. Then, he heard a knock on the door, and it was your familiar, passive-aggressive bratty voice. “Are you fucking done now?!”

That was you. Oh shit. How long had you been standing there? He didn't know, and he was terrified. Mortified.

Hastily, he packed himself back up, washed his hands and flushed the toilet for good measure, so that ‘nobody’ would ever suspect what he did. But you already had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Nobody spends that much time in the bathroom, groaning. But who the hell spends several minutes listening to someone inside of the bathroom? 

Well, you felt pretty sick to your stomach and wanted to just bust the door open if you could, not caring at all what Nero was doing in there.

As he opened the door, you saw that his face looked rather flushed and strained. Ugh, maybe he wasn't doing what you thought? You don't want to throw up right into someone's finished business.

He let you pass him and you bolted inside, not closing the door. That surprised him a bit, and he stood there for a few seconds, before your dry-heaving caught his attention.

You rushed in front of the toilet and felt even more sick than before, but it didn't escape you that the toilet seat was completely cold. At least there's that. He was definitely jerking off then.

Before you knew it, you felt a hand clutch your hair haphazardly, pulling it behind your head. “Let go of me assho-”

You felt another wave of nausea hit you but nothing came up, and you just coughed heavily instead. You aren’t actually sick whenever you have these fits of nausea, but you still always dart to the nearest bathroom fearing you might actually throw up. You know exactly why you get it, but you don’t do yourself any favors by not trying to relax once in a while. It’s all from stress, and anxiety.

Nero on the other hand, was very concerned. Quite the predicament to get yourself into after trying to get some sweet release. He didn't think he'd be doing you this favor. Or even caring the next time he saw you. But he still did. Damn it.

“Are you sick or something?”

Tiredly, you made it a point to glare at him. “No I'm just pretending. Of course I fucking feel sick, dumbass!” He jumped back slightly at your words. “I was just trying to help.” 

Awkwardly, he stood behind you for a couple of moments, while you tried to scramble to your feet, still shaking heavily. Nero noticed your struggle and helped you up, but this time you took his help without protesting, you just felt far too weak and forgot your little feud.

He braced you with his hands and gave you a good look. You did look pretty shaken up but not really sick.

“What's wrong?” He asked, giving you an inquisitive look. You avoided his gaze and turned it to the floor.

“I feel really sick randomly a lot. I'm fine.” You tried to push him out of the way, and he let you go begrudgingly. He was a tad worried and almost forgot about what he just did minutes ago.

While he did make note of it, he did realize that you indeed weren’t sick moments before you told him, and he knew why. Similar to a dog, he’s able to sense those sorts of things. He left and went back to his room, and you sought out the kitchen.

Perhaps that nap wasn't the best for your sleeping schedule; but that doesn't matter too much right now. Your thoughts felt a bit clearer, but otherwise you just wanted to drink yourself back to sleep after the weight of the past day sunk into you. It's easy to take these sorts of things on the fly for you. 

That's why you're so good at your job; react now and process later, that's your motto. Processing things isn't so fun though, and you quickly developed a headache and fell into a nasty, irritable mood and nausea as you went to bed.

In the morning, you were greeted by a sense of relief, but pretty astonished and suspicious of this whole situation. Nero in particular. Something was just so suspicious and off-putting, even though your gut was telling you otherwise and it's just your anxiety and perfectly rational fears for anything supernatural.

Perhaps you still needed to put more thought into it?


	4. Vendetta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get your first 'new mission' and Nero joins you as the annoying sidekick, but he turns out to actually have a far more personal vendetta in this one, and even more all around madness and insanity than you anticipated. Of course, further cementing your building love-hate relationship with him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is crackhead forensic files energy. I know. But I fucking felt like it! 
> 
> ***CW: mentions of crimes against children such as murder and r*pe***
> 
> Also includes lots of suggestive crap as per usual. This whole work is 18+ anyway! :)

You tiredly reached around the bed where you haphazardly sort of just threw your suitcase and bags, to grab your laptop. Fuck. These cheapskates may not even have wi-fi… Guess you’d have to just use your phone. You didn’t feel like dealing with anyone this early, nor did you want any distractions from your primary job. They had theirs, you had yours, and you’d pitch in here and there and they’d lend you a hand or 2, or 6, or 8… Either way, you wanted to focus now.

In your work email, you had already gotten an inquiry about the updated information you put on your website a few days ago. Instead of listing your services and clarifying what’s not in the scope of possibility or consideration, you simply changed the text to “All inquiries will be evaluated indiscriminately, discreetly and without bias towards legality.” You wondered sometimes if that alone could get you in trouble? Who knows. But someone was already ready to bite.

The email was certainly… Something else. You skimmed over it first, but you went back to read for further context once you saw this guy was offering you 20 grand for some petty spying. The catch? He thinks his wife is cheating on him, but not only that. He thinks the person in question is also a child abuser, and he was willing to offer ‘a little something extra’ if you can ‘take care of him’, should it be true that he hurts children. You figured that means killing him. 

It didn’t take you long to decide you wanted to take this up, so you replied with a simple request to meet in person to discuss ‘a little something extra’ for ‘taking care of him’. But now you’d have to ask Dante, Nero and co. if they’re willing to spy on some guy’s wife, and track down the adulterer, and find out if there’s any truth to the second claim, that he’s a disgusting criminal. You were sure Dante would instantly bite if he hears how much money is involved just for confirming what his wife’s been up to.

You decided to conduct this meeting on your own terms, letting this potential client know that you have literal demons helping you out, giving you an unfair advantage even over police dogs, could be problematic to say the least. 

But you were confident that they’d be able to make quick work of finding these individuals. The spying may be a bit harder, but you’d handle that on your own, with your own brain cells. 

After sending that email, you tossed your phone on the bed and began to dig around in your suitcase for something to wear, and hopped into the shower.

As you were drying off, you took advantage of the 2 mirrors in the bathroom and noticed that the injury on your neck is completely gone- in fact, every single scratch and bruise was gone. Did Nero really heal you with some _weird demon crap?_ Seems like it. 

You continued to get ready for the day, and went through more emails, but none of them stood out like the first one you read today. You’d probably hunker around and wait until you get a response, and go out to discuss business immediately. Dante is probably going to be much more willing to commit a crime if he knows the exact sum of money involved. At least, you had Dante in mind when you thought of who could help you out with this. There was someone else though, who would thoroughly enjoy taking care of this kind of person, if those allegations and suspicions are true. That was Nero.

While you didn’t know it, Nero used to help Kyrie with the orphanage in town- and he’s grown fond of taking care of children to the best of his ability; he still has a good heart even if he’s not really the most gentle person. He knows first hand how awful it can be to be all alone out there, with no parents or home. So when you’d pitch the idea of downright killing someone who messed with children, he would agree to single handedly kill that bastard for no money reward whatsoever.

At least 45 minutes passed, and you still haven’t gotten a response to that lucrative new client. You weighed out your options for avoiding people as much as you could today, but you figured that since you’ll be most likely asking for a very large and risky favor, it’s best to buddy up with them. Right?

Much to your surprise, Nero and Dante were awake, before noon at that, eating some microwaved leftover pizza by the looks of it. And would you look at that, both of them were dressed! Dante turned to face you coming down the steps, and greeted you with a mouth full of food. In response you simply nodded, and turned your attention to Nero, who was looking at you nervously. 

You grabbed a stool at the island counter right between both of them. For the purposes of attaining their help in your first shady proposition, you thought that getting that close is a good idea. Seems more personable. 

“So how come are you guys up this early?” Dante was still busy with his pizza, and he looked at Nero, giving him a nod.

“We figured you may have something for us to do before we get any serious calls.” Nero tried to sound nonchalant as possible, but he was glad to just also have another excuse to see you as early as possible today.

You swiveled around on the bench, Facing Dante this time, raising a brow at him, giving him an impatient look. He quickly swallowed the huge bite of pizza and apologized. “Sorry. Anything we can do?” 

This seemed like a setup or pre planned scene, and you almost felt like some kind of supervillain folding your hands on the counter and saying ‘As a matter of fact, I do.”

Before either of them could interrupt you or ask, you added “But this is no small job or something you can do real quick. But there’s at least 20 grand involved.”

Dante was visibly shaken. “20 grand?! Where do you get these sorts of people? Actually I don’t want to know.”

Nero stayed quiet, he was going to wait until he heard all of it to cast judgement on whether that's 20 grand well spent. 

“Guy thinks wife is cheating. Find out if she is, and find the guy.” Nero chimed in this time. 

“That sounds awfully simple, don’t you already do that kind of stuff without us?”  
“Yeah but it can take weeks because I don’t have superhuman senses and have to follow people around and stare at a computer screen…”  
“Fair enough,” Nero commented, taking his hands away from the counter to nervously twiddle his thumbs. 

“There’s something else though.” You tried to keep your voice down, but you told them that there’s potentially a lot more than 20,000 on the table, given that you 1. Confirm that the wife is cheating, and 2., confirm if the man in question is actually doing what he’s accused of. 

“And what is that accusation?” Nero asked, getting impatient. But Dante was all ears. _Anything for 20 grand!_

“That he’s… You know… Also mistreating children. My client said we’d get an extra if we can take care of him.” Nero’s eyes lit up, like blue fiery orbs. You were confused, why does he seem so angry? Dante got up and reached out to grab his shoulder. “Hey buddy, calm down. Hear her out.” Dante glanced back to you and nodded for you to continue. 

“Well, that’s it. If we find the guy and can confirm what he’s doing, we get an extra.”  
“What is that bonus thing?”  
“I have yet to get a response from the client, I just opened the email this morning.”  
“Ah.” Now Dante went quiet. Probably thinking about what kind of person puts 20,000+ on someone’s head. Not even a demon, but just an asshole of a person. Of course, since it’s a shitty person and not a demon, _killing the offender is a crime._

Dante is fairly sure he breaks the law at least 5 times a day in some sort, so he didn’t really have any objections in that regard. But he didn’t know if he really had it in him to kill a man, even if he’s indeed a sick fuck, and the world would be better off without him.

Nero on the other hand, was ready to snuff this motherfucker out, which he now just blurted out.   
“I don’t care about the money, but that sick fuck is going down.”  
“That is if we can confirm if it’s true.” You were a bit annoyed and angry that he’s so ready to kill… Without any evidence. 

Nero whipped around to glare at you. “Trust me, I can smell that sort of filth in a person. Finding them shouldn’t be a problem, I just need a picture. I’ll handle it alone, Dante.” Nero got up and straightened out his jacket, and went to the weapon rack next to the door. That’s odd. Most people get their shoes first.

You were still sitting there, looking at them. You were interrupted by your phone buzzing, it was another email from your client. Just in time. He insisted on talking about the specifics in a park, how stereotypical. Thankfully it was nearby, just a 20 minute drive. You hastily replied that you’d be there by the hour, and rushed to the door where Nero was standing with that gigantic sword in his hands, sort of leaning on it. It’s the first time you saw it. It looked like it had… A hand brake on it? Odd. Also reeked of gasoline and blood.

“You uh… May wanna put that away.”  
“Why?”  
“I’ve got to go talk to the client first and see exactly what he’ll give us if we take care of the guy.”  
Nero blushed a bit, and felt a bit stupid. “Oh, of course. But I’m still coming with you. Dunno what kind of weird shit that client could be up to.” 

Nero’s enthusiasm was piquing your interest, but you were slowly putting together some other pieces. Maybe he has some personal vendetta because harming children could be involved? Shit, potentially even kids he knew from the orphanage. Yikes. That’d definitely do it in terms of motivation. Either way, you were wary of his eagerness to stay with you, alone.

And his concern about a setup was a valid point, but you’ve never mistrusted a client. And you didn’t mistrust this client for potentially setting up a trap to stage you for manslaughter, you did some digging and research into the names that he gave you. Apparently the person that your client thought was involved with his wife has had several public hearings with a hung jury, and it just kept happening time and time again. You could understand why your client was pissed, and certain that he’s hiding something, maybe not just an affair.

“So you’re taking up that sniffer dog role huh?” Dante joked and crossed his arms in front of his chest, glad that he didn’t really need to raise a finger to get a large chunk of cash so efficiently if Nero’s so determined to handle it alone.

“Fuck off,” Nero growled, and elbowed his uncle. You were still leisurely tying up your boots, checking your ammo, making sure you have everything with you while the two kept bickering and holding banter. Once you finished tying up the laces and grabbed your coat, you rather assertively pushed yourself between them, and for some reason it worked.

“Come on, let’s go.” You nodded towards the door, and Dante backed up with an awkward look on his face, nodding at you. Nero flipped off his uncle before heading out of the door with you. 

“See you later, old man.”  
“We’ll be back later, Dante.”  
Your reply was definitely a lot more polite-sounding.

Once you closed the door and headed down the steps just past the mailbox, Nero thought aloud for a moment.

“Shit, Nico’s not up.”  
You turned around on your heels and Nero almost bumped right into you, face already red from knowing he’s alone with you now.

“Why does that matter?” Your tone now sounded pissed off as ever again, now that you’re alone with him and can spit venom all you want, which he expected.  
“She’s got the keys to the van.”  
“We’re using my car, dumbass.”  
“Oh, of course.” 

Nero glanced into the driveway and noticed a much smaller, sleeker and shinier black glossy car. Admittedly, he sort of wished he could drive when he saw cars like that. How he didn’t notice it yesterday was beyond him. You noticed Nero took his sweet ass time to look at the car. He was so used to climbing into that rickety old van. 

“You can ogle and check out the car later if you want, stop dawdling and get in the fucking car.” He stiffened in embarrassment when he heard that, and quickly headed straight back to the passenger side door, and plopped into the seat. It was quite the drop for him. But he buckled in and tried to look around the interior as nonchalantly as possible as you pressed a button, turning on the engine. 

“What the fuck is that?”   
You were about to pull out of the driveway and put the car in reverse, and gave him a death glare before getting a move on.

“Yeah new cars have that. Not like that shitsmobile over there.” Nero almost wanted to feel attacked by the comment, he grew fond of the van, but damn it sure was dated. Most cars he sees around here are actually pretty dated along with the buildings, since Fortuna is so isolated and most people coming here are just tourists. Your car would definitely stand out as a ‘mainlander’ vehicle, not to mention the license plates.

He pouted briefly, before crossing his arms. As soon as you got onto the road, he could tell that your driving is about 100 times better than Nico’s. Given, she can definitely pull off some wacky stunts. But she isn’t very good at being a normal civilian driver at all. He also took some time to awkwardly and silently think about you, of course. 

Excited was an understatement in terms of how he felt about today’s prospects, but he was also anxious. If he can handle demons, surely he could stick out a little confrontation with a human? You’re trained to kill, and he shrugged off your bullets. Certainly some random asshole is going to have even less power over him. But he’s never killed humans for no reason before. Or for money. Or as part of a crime.

You decided to break the awkward silence, because you needed some answers first.   
“Do people around here recognize you or know who or what you are?”  
“Well yeah, that’s a no brainer. At least here in Fortuna. Not sure about other places.”  
“You’re gonna have to stay in the car then.” Nero pouted and seemed a little upset; he wanted in on this elusive fun. You had to remind him that this isn’t some CSI or Forensic Files shit, it’s not all fun and games and action packed scenes or riveting stories and ruses.

“Well, if I were putting 20 grand on finding my wife cheating, and _then some_ on the dude’s head, I’d be a lot more confident about throwing my money away if I knew someone like me is handling it, and not just another person with a gun.” He chuckled deviously, before looking at you in the reflection of the mirror, and you didn’t look impressed. You saw the glaring flaw with it, but wouldn’t blame him for not seeing that perspective.

“He’d lowball us if you show up. Of course you can snuff out someone like it’s no big deal. He’d give you like 5 cents and a paperclip for this kind of job. And I think you’d rather not have your public image tainted by rumors of being involved with some shady stuff and not just self righteous demon-killing, protecting the innocents and whatnot.”

Nero nodded his head to the side, staring ahead blankly. You could tell by his silence that he acknowledged that you’re right. Damn you for being hot and smart, and crafty. He supposed that this aspect with the huge amounts of money is another big reason why Dante prized you so much: you’re getting paid out the ass for mundane shit, comparatively. He picked up his cocky tone again soon enough, and asked you, 

“Isn’t this extortion then?”  
“I don’t think you know what extortion is. But no, this certainly isn’t transparent. And he’s wasting a lot of money, to be honest. But as the Germans say, what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.” That elicited a giggle from him too, and he caught a wicked grin on your face. Sadistic. He likes it.

“Well, V is the wordsy guy, not me.”  
“Fair enough, maybe I’ll get you a dictionary for Christmas.” 

Nero shook his head and laughed it off. He could tell you still had your guard up, but was determined to crack it, and at least get you to be kind to him and not just sassy and bratty. If you keep it up, he may even develop a thing for that…

“So have you done jobs like this before, then?”  
“Yes.” To be honest, you didn’t feel like talking much about this. But you’d still answer him, and let him know that you’re not interested in discussing it by being painfully vague and front loading all your responses with as much venom and harshness as possible.

“And how much do they usually offer, you know, if they don't want anyone to be sleeping with the fishes?”  
“A lot less.”  
“Is this the first time anyone ever asked for that?”  
“Yes.”  
“So you’re not a cop anymore then are you?”

You took your eyes off the road, seeing as you were at a red light. You glared at him. If eyes could kill, he’d be dead meat right now.

“At this point I’ve gone so far undercover into other people’s shit that you could say I’ve gone rogue. Money is money. Money with blood on it is still money. True justice has a price. And having a badge doesn’t make you a saint… Nor does that badge have to be real,” you trailed off there, and smiled to yourself, hoping he’d see that you were hinting at the fact that you did formally surrender the badge, but kept a foolproof copy.

“So you’ve worked against the guys you worked with? Or they asked you for stuff?”  
“Both.” The traffic light turned green, and you pressed the gas with a bit more fervor than you intended, but Nero wouldn’t be the one to notice since he’s used to Nico’s relentless driving.

He mumbled something to himself before apologizing. “Sorry for all the questions.”  
“Better for you to know that than try to hold me hostage at gunpoint.” Nero could tell you were side-eyeing him, and he felt bad for yesterday. He did indeed overreact and didn’t really give you the benefit of the doubt at all. He just went full offense mode.

“I’m also sorry for that,” you heard him mumble quietly.  
“Cut the bullshit. We’re almost there. You need to stay in the car and not touch anything. Got it?”

He nodded, but you could just barely see it in your peripheral vision. The street where you were supposed to meet was right up the corner, and you’d soon pull into an empty parking lot where you’d leave the car, and Nero behind. There was no verbal exchange at all until you came back and turned the car back on.

Nero had no idea how long it’d take, but he definitely kept an eye on you, almost like a protective reflex. Soon after he saw you sit down on a bench and pull your phone out, a middle aged gentleman in some rather formal and old fashioned clothing approached you, and he figured that must be the guy. No wonder he has lots of money.

He observed you exchanging papers, presumably photos. 

Your client seemed oddly calm, like he’s done this sort of shady business before. He didn’t even greet you, he knew what he needed to say, after handing you some documents and photos.

“I’ll give you an extra 30 grand if you can prove him guilty and take care of him.”  
You shuffled through the documents and the pictures, and they did match what you found online, along with the photo of his wife. 

What you didn’t expect were crime scene photos and pictures that seemed like they came straight from the coroner's office. You could tell they were originals too, and the man seemed nervous and shifted around when you inspected the backs to confirm your suspicion. He frankly should have known that you’ll probably look.

“I’m not even going to ask how you got these, but this is what he did, yeah?”  
“Yeah. Those kids. He got away with this like five times.”  
“And these were public trials, hung jury, right?”  
“Correct.”  
“And this has never gone beyond the local jurisdiction courts?”  
“Yep. Can’t get to the higher ups or anything if it keeps getting dismissed.”  
“And… I’ve tried to get this job done several times before with no luck, they’d refuse usually, and I didn’t want to show them those photos.”  
“You’re aware of my background then, yes?”  
He gave you a quick, yet serious nod. He’s likely been considering your services for a while then. So that’s why he knows the drill.

You did feel a bit sad, knowing shit like this goes on, but you should be used to it by now. If you ever needed justification for your back-stabbing of your own police officers which frankly are not saints at all- this was it. There’s always people slipping through the cracks like this bastard and nobody bats an eye and they just throw up bullshit legal excuses.

“And if he’s not the bastard who my wife’s been seeing-” He interrupted himself and sighed. “At least he’s still gone and not hurting anyone anymore. You know.” 

At this point you were fairly certain that the man you were going to be hunting was guilty, that’s for sure. If that same sick fuck is also having his way with this guy’s wife, you didn’t know yet. You nodded and went back to looking at the pictures. “May I keep these?” you asked, finally. The man simply nodded. It seemed like he was also thinking about something, or working on a sentence as you silently went through the photos and documents.

He figured he shouldn’t need to warn you about the rest of the evidence he had in that stack of photos, but they got more and more graphic and disturbing and you grew silent and furrowed your brows at the increasingly alarming evidence. 

“I’ll give you 70 for getting rid of him and proving what he’s been getting away with, just for my sake. If he’s gone, then… The wife problem is done with. I’m actually filing for a divorce anyway.”

That nearly burst out of him. He’s clearly personally affected by this more than just being angry about his wife, that is for sure. He probably also already accepted that his wife is likely cheating, usually those kinds of gut feelings are right, and you saw he removed his engagement and wedding rings. On who is she cheating though? You don’t know. 

Without giving away anything with your facial expression, you were in shock about the amount of money, yet you nodded, accepting the new offer. Whoever did this to children is one fucked up individual. You kept inspecting the backs for context, names and dates until you got back to the beginning of the stack. May as well take advantage of having the original photos and reports right?

“I’ll get started as soon as possible.”  
“I’ve been slowly withdrawing cash for months for this- I’ll give you half of it when you can show me he’s guilty. The other half… When he’s gone.”  
“Dead drop?”  
“Yes.”  
“Sounds good. I’ll keep you updated. I’m terribly sorry that this has had to wait for so long, but I’m confident we can get this sorted.”

That part about the money surprised you, but then you remembered he’s tried to pitch this job several times before. This man must be pretty wealthy, and you could roughly estimate that he’s probably also got adult kids who are likely gone and distant, just like the wife. Probably lives at home and is retired early. Never judge a book by its cover, you supposed. 

“Thank you miss, good luck, and God bless.” With a smile, you nodded at him as he went off into the distance. Another person not from Fortuna. Interesting. He got up and left, and you’d wait a few minutes to get up, before heading back to the car.

In the few moments alone, Nero was watching intently, wondering what you’ve just heard. You kept a stone cold pokerface- so he’d definitely have to wait for you to come back to find out what the deal is.

You got back to the car and unlocked the driver’s side door, and put the manila folder on the middle console, and grunted at Nero to not touch it. He was excited to be a part of this in some way, but he also was excited to also work with you, alone.

The expression plastered on your face stayed there, and you didn’t say much, saying that you’d discuss the details elsewhere, after getting some food. Sounds fair enough to Nero. He did have one question though. “So how much cash are we looking at?”

You tried your best to just brush it off and not further go into the topic, but you told him. “70k on this bastard’s head.”

“What in the fuck…” Nero seemed flabbergasted. “Isn’t that shady in itself?”  
“No, not given the context. And I’m going to ask you to not go through that folder until we’re somewhere secure.”

Nero had a bad gut feeling about this. Not like you’re in danger, or this is wrong, but maybe that you’ve bitten off something that is definitely too much for you to chew alone, without his help. He could definitely agree to get some food now though. He suggested a drive thru place that he’d visit a lot with Nico. 

You obliged, and grabbed some belated breakfast, which you’d eat in the car, while vaguely discussing your plan of action. You planned on letting him see what’s in the folder after he’s done with that greasy food though.

Once finished he wiped his hands on his jacket, and you rolled your eyes. Fair enough. You took the folder, and took a deep breath. You felt like this was going to be painful to explain, like trying to teach a toddler about astrophysics. 

“This one’s a doozy.”  
Nero tilted his head, curious about it now, of course. You also seemed to have dropped that signature venom in the tone of your voice now. Now, it’s time for business. Not petty shit, and stupid feelings about the gorgeous man in front of you.

You took out a mugshot of the person you’re looking for, and held it up. “Don’t touch it. Just look.”

Nero’s pupils got smaller until all you saw was the blue of his irises burning bright, and his face twisting into anger. He was seething, but he knew better than to flip out on you. It took a lot of mental stamina though. You weren’t on high alert for some reason, as you probably would be otherwise seeing his temper ignite like that.

“I know that motherfucker alright. I can tell you he’s guilty as can be. Doesn’t matter what he did. I knew he’s up to no fucking good.”

That surprised you. What would Nero have to do with a criminal? “Care to explain?...”

“Yeah. He’s a social worker that would come by and check on the kids at the orphanage. Something tells me he’s _not_ a social worker.”  
You shook your head, nope. “Yeah. He’s been on unemployment… for a long time.”  
“Knew it.” Nero balled his fist into the sleeves of his jacket, and laid his head back, staring at the roof of your car.

“And I think I know who you were talking to, I think I know the wife too.” He readjusted and now directed his blank stare forwards, almost piercing your windshield. That could be problematic, but you’d hear him out.

“The guy you talked to - If I’m right, he’s the guy that used to foster and adopted some kids at the orphanage where I grew up for a while, but most of them are all grown up now too. Apparently he considered adopting me too,” He chuckled, but it sounded a bit sad. You already knew about where he came from and how he grew up, but you didn’t want to bring that up now.

“But yeah. His story is fucked up too. His first wife took their kids, held them all at gunpoint, and she shot the kids and then herself. It’s in the fuckin news if you don’t believe me-”  
“No no, I remember that one myself. Word got around. Interesting that it’s the same guy. He must have been put under witsec.”  
“What’s that?”  
“He has a different identity now.”  
“What’s his name?”  
You told him the name on paper for your client, and Nero confirmed it wasn’t the same. 

“No wonder I couldn’t find anything about him.”  
“Yeah that’s not his name I knew him by.”

You turned around to Nero, you were intrigued by what he seemed to know. “So what’s the deal with him?”

Nero had an uneasy look on his face. “He’s a good guy. Sorry it’s just- Ugh.” He thought back to the suspect- the sketchy _‘social worker’_ \- and the bad feeling he got around him. How he treated Kyrie and the kids. It was disgusting. There was no shred of doubt in his mind, and he was beginning to see why there’s so much money on the guy’s head.

“He’s a philanthropist, used to be into stock trading or business, that’s why he’s so loaded. He doesn’t live in Fortuna. He’s about 3 hours away, lives in some big fancy mansion. Visited him a couple times to catch up with the kids and whatnot. A few years ago, when he remarried that gold digging bitch, he stopped coming by. It was only that stupid new wife of his. She plays dumb as bricks but I bet she’s just after his money.” Philanthropist. That's quite a big word for Nero, but you swallowed that dumb comment. He was actually providing useful information.

"Huh. _Small world_."

“I’m guessing that’s where she met the guy in that picture, if it’s true his current wife is also cheating. He used to bring a bunch of stuff each month for years, stuff for kids you know. And some cash and groceries. But that stopped when that dumb bitch got involved.”

“You think she has something to do with it?”  
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t rule it out.”  
You nodded, urging him to continue. This may be relatively easy to solve with his help then, hmm. But you’ve already let some sensitive information slip, woops. You’re never supposed to really talk about people who were under witsec.

“The first time she stopped by she brought the same stuff- like for the kids. The next month it stopped. She would just come around on behalf of her husband she said, to _'check in',_ and I know she ran into that asshole in the picture.”

You figured your client was doing those acts of charity and kindness due to his circumstances and his losses, but now the wife was intercepting that. Nero knew you were a damn detective, and you probably put that together already. 

“He’s really wealthy, that’s what his first wife tried to get out of him. And now that other bitch must also just be a gold digger.”  
“He said he’s filing a divorce. That’s why he dropped the request to look into that.”

Nero scoffed. “Yeah, that one’s pretty obvious. I feel sorry for him. He’s a good guy. Never would have thought he’d have such a taste for… Vengeance.” He kept up the blank stare but chuckled off to the side before silently gathering his thoughts.

“Back to that asshole,” Nero pointed at the picture of the suspect. “Ever since he started showing up to take them to the doctor or to some kind of therapy, 4 kids went missing from the orphanage. Reported missing over the past like, 2 years. Nothing was ever found, just dumped bodies. No suspect. But I know that has to be the guy now. It makes sense. I always thought so.”

You swallowed hard. Those are probably the kids in those pictures, also 4 kids, and the dates lined up. You definitely wouldn’t show them to Nero then. But you had to drop that bomb on him, so you swallowed your pride for a moment and leaned over the center console and did your best to wrap your hand around his shoulder.

“I think that those are the ones in these pictures I won’t show you. I’m sorry about that.”  
Nero pressed his eyes shut, but you could see tears pushing out, before he opened his eyes wide again, and they streamed down his cheek. “Kyrie needs to know. But let’s take care of him first.” 

You weren’t going to ask who that was, you knew already. But according to Nero, you didn’t know who that was. 

“It looks like you know a lot more than me right off the bat, do you want me to ask the rest to stay out of this?” You asked him that in sincerity. Also, too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth.

“Yeah. That’d be nice. I think I know what’s going on. But to get those records from the orphanage- well, we need to go there. I need to talk to Kyrie. Fuck, I can’t do this. Can you do that? You got that badge. She’ll show you those records as soon as she sees that badge. Ask her for the outing records, like for medical shit.”

“You think that’s enough to prove that it’s him?”  
“It has dates and notes. She was really diligent with that stuff. If you got those pictures- it probably all comes together.” He sounded sad, but he definitely didn’t want to look through the pictures and reports for good measure.

“...If he’s _dead,_ there’s no need to get him into legal trouble, you know. Less messy.” You were alluding to the fact that you’re willing to let this get as nasty as possible, because no doubt Nero will be able to take care of him. “The client just wants evidence for his own conscience.”

Nero nodded, still trying to ignore the tears falling down his cheeks. “I understand. He’ll pay. He’ll fucking pay.” His voice cracked, and he covered his face with his hands, before trembling heavily. Wow. You didn’t think this would be this… Personal. Admittedly, this did serve as an incredibly effective measure to gain your trust for now. He’s showing a lot of weakness, for sure. 

“If you’re up for it, we can go grab those papers from the orphanage.” Almost before you could finish the sentence, Nero interrupted you. “Wait,” he squeaked. “I- I need to tell you something first.”

“Hm?”  
“That orphanage- Kyrie, she was the girl I was with. We broke up. We’re on good terms. I used to take care of the kids at the orphanage in my spare time, and her family raised me. I only just left like a few months ago.”  
“So you used to live there and work there?” Hmm, makes a lot of sense why he’s even more upset about this.  
“Yeah.”  
“Are you sure you don’t want to speak to her yourself then?” 

Knowing that he was being honest about there being no bad blood, you figured it may be better for him to ask, because a police officer will also rouse suspicion, just as much as a concerned Nero.

“Me or you, asking for those records will tell her something.”  
“She’s way too sensitive for that shit.” Nero sounded sad and frustrated, he knew exactly how mortified Kyrie would be if she finds out what’s going on, and he knew she’s smart. Yes, she will know something’s off no matter who asks for those records.

“...Do you want to _steal_ them?” You couldn’t help but chuckle a little, and it made him chuckle too. But he didn’t actually laugh it off entirely.

“I still have keys to the place. I could grab them. She doesn’t have to open them up very often anyway, and I know where she keeps them.”

You pressed the button to fire up the ignition again, and pulled out of the empty parking lot. “Up to you.” Nero smiled and nodded. You started driving towards the general direction of the address of the target, and Nero was none the wiser for now.

“How about we take care of him right now?” You gave him a wicked smile, praying to God he’d just agree. You wanted this job done with, it’s such low hanging fruit. They say money talks, and _boy_ , this money was just screaming and yelling at this point.

“I- in broad daylight? I don’t even know if he’s home.”  
“He is. It’s Sunday. He’s unemployed.” Nero hesitated, _of course it’s sort of hard to convince someone to commit murder on the spot._

“We could also totally forfeit the evidence part and just go straight for him. If you know this guy- You may be enough to convince him ten times over that he’s guilty. There’s also a murder weapon we could find.”  
“What about that thing with the money?”  
“I don’t think having you personally do that would make him pay less, in this case. If what you said is true. I can call him.” Nero nodded, and you pulled over to call him. Surely he’s still actually on his way home, out of town, and in his own car.

You were nervous about how this would go, but you figured it’s worth a shot. You dialed the number and when the client answered he sounded a bit fearful, but you could tell he is indeed on the road. 

“We’ve got him. And a special guest, if you’d like to speak to him.”  
“You… got rid of him?”  
“We’re about to.”  
“And you’re sure he did it? How’d you find out so quickly?” He sounded reluctant, but then you downright offered him to join in on the confrontation, and handed the phone to Nero.

“Sir, it’s me. Nero, I used to work with Kyrie. It... was him. I know it.”  
“Oh goodness. Let me pull over.” After a brief pause, he started speaking again. “Nero, I trust you will do the right thing. I had no idea you did this sort of… Never mind.”

The man told you where the 2 dead drops were located, and you had Nero write it down as he did some explanation to the client on the line. You smiled and were glad that this worked out… So smoothly. He even offered to compensate even more money, so placing your bet on Nero worked out. 

For a moment the man didn’t want to admit he’d ever think Nero would be involved in this sort of thing. But he’d be honored for someone he knew as a _demon killing machine_ with his heart in the right spot to do the dirty part, and gladly pay so much more. Nobody can really escape the wrath of a pissed off Nero, he managed to beat up his own father after all. 

You told Nero that you’re about to pull into the neighborhood, and you both said goodbye to the client on the other end of the line, and assured him you’d call as soon as it’s done. It was odd that your client sounded completely overjoyed, _ah the joy of revenge._

While driving through the neighborhood, you counted the houses until you found the one listed as the address. Luckily it was sort of secluded, and you still had that badge with you. That’ll make him open up for sure, either way.

You parked the car behind the corner, which thankfully wasn’t far from the house.  
“You probably shouldn’t… Use the gun.” Nero holstered it immediately again.   
“Oh, true. Can do.”

You got your badge and own gun ready, just in case, but you were hoping that Nero could protect you, like he said he would. “Ready?” You asked, while unlocking the car doors, and stepping out into the crisp, fall air, feeling additional chills run down your spine. “Yup.” 

“Make it look like one of your usual jobs, you know?” You heard some otherworldly snickering; his voice was distorted like Dante’s voice yesterday. He knew better than to whip out those claws right now though, or turn into that presumably full-on demon form. Made you wonder for a second if his human form is just a disguise... _Wait no, let's not go there. It's definitely the other way around._

“Of course. That's technically what it is right? Demon attack…”  
“Yes.. That.”  
“Just follow me and stay quiet until he’s closed the door and backed off enough.”

Your heart was pounding as you walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Sure enough, that gangly looking man from the mugshots peeped out of the door, as you expected. Immediately you shoved your badge in his face, and demanded to be let in. He jumped back, but hastily undid the locks on the door. He seemed to have a lot. How fucked up.

You thought it was funny that he nodded at Nero, who he should recognize. “Sir, we’re conducting a survey. We would like to ask you some questions about a missing person.”

“Oh, yes, uh… Right here.” You were guided to the cluttered kitchen table in the poorly lit dwelling. The place reeked of cigarettes and filth. You couldn’t really describe it any different. Fitting for such a deplorable human being.

As your suspect had his back turned while hauling off some junk from the chairs and table, you elbowed Nero, and vaulted backwards, hiding behind the dingy sofa. You knew the sorts of damage he can cause to interiors already, so you didn’t even want to look initially.

You saw a blue flash of light and felt the room increase in temperature, before you heard an even more distorted voice speak. 

“Surprise, who would have thought?”   
“What the…” the man squeaked as he was backed into the corner of his kitchen by what you could only describe as a… Big, blue demon-insect thing with wings.

Nero clutched him with one of the spectral appendages, and lifted him up, almost smashing him into the ceiling. “You’re going down, and nobody will care.”

Some more muffled screams came your way as you stared in awe at whatever the fuck was unfolding right before your eyes. “See ya, asshole!”

Nero chuckled and before you knew it, he used his other winged fist to just tear him into two pieces like a piece of Play-Doh, dropping the ‘pieces’ to the ground with a loud thud, and some gross noises from the blood on the floor tiles. Admittedly you felt a bit sick to your stomach, you’ve seen gunshot wounds, beheadings and gang stuff, other sorts of screwed up torture and mangling, even on children. But you’ve never seen… This. 

You blinked a few times, and Nero turned around to face you, while his demon form slowly dissipated in a few flickers of blue light. He had the most sadistic smile on his face. “That was fun.”

“I hope you sure as fuck don’t do that to me…” You couldn’t take your eyes off the 2 halves of man laying in the kitchen, bleeding out. “Holy shit.” You spooked a little before Nero stepped in front of you, obscuring the view and trying to give you a hug. He knew damn well that this is disturbing as all hell. “It’s okay, he’s gone now.”  
“I know,” you spat back at him, trying to pull away.

“I’ll just slash up the rest a bit, and we’re done here right?”   
“Hold on, before you bash in everything, I need his knife drawer.”

Nero furrowed a brow at you, but then he figured that you wanted a chance at finding the murder weapon. He swallowed hard, before going ahead to look through drawers, trying to find the knives. 

From the reports, you knew you were looking for a sort of custom knife, that’s why they were unable to match it to wounds. As Nero was rifling through drawers, you were looking in what looked like some sort of collection case. The glass was dusty, and the lock was set, so you picked the lock and pried the rusted hinges open, and scanned it for anything looking like a custom knife.

No sign of a knife, but there was a very small strongbox in there, and a conveniently labelled key next to it. You made sure to not touch anything with your hands, even though this place was going to be gutted from the inside out once you tip off the police and they send their clean up guys.

“Got it!” you exclaimed. That is certainly one hell of an odd custom knife. But you knew that it must be the one. You’re not into forensics, but you could see things adding up now from the photos. 

“I’m gonna get out, and you do your thing here, okay?” Nero nodded at you, seemingly overjoyed by the whole ordeal. Maybe he was also just happy about the money. _Think of the money god damn it! Not the dismemberment you just witnessed._

True to his word, Nero made sure to slash and tear up the place decently and even tossed the remains around a little just to make this look like a particularly messy demon attack, without any signature weapon marks that scream _‘Nero, Dante or Vergil were here and failed their job and left a civilian dead’._

There’s not really such a thing as fingerprinting demons, so Nero didn’t have to fear anything like that either. Surprisingly, he rejoined you seemingly out of thin air, as you were walking to the car. He was floating in the air, he must have jumped out of the window, or something. 

And sure enough, a bunch of neighbors now came out to see what the ruckus was about, but they seemed to be eased immediately when they saw Nero waving at them with blood spatters on his coat, thinking he must have just done his job. You even heard some words of praise, and laughed to yourself. 

So is this what unfair power and deception feels like? Second hand? Wow. 

Back in the car, you dialed up your client’s cell phone number and reassured him that the deed is done, and that it’ll most likely appear on a newspaper or something of the like, and that if you go alert the police, death records may be available by Monday. 

You couldn’t believe you just completed such an intense and high value heist within a day. Dante would definitely be very happy. And he could easily pay for those repairs, and debt. You were told that if you want to wait until Monday, you could expect the double payment at the farther away dead drop, and if you want to pick them up today that’s fine as well, but you may as well spare the trip, you already have to stop by the police station or call them to give them a heads up about that “demon attack”. 

You were somewhat shocked by the amount of trust, and money this guy had, because true to word, you found exactly what he described when you went out to the first location. Given, they were barely outside city limits, off of some hiking trails.

It was around 3 PM when you located the first cache, containing what should be around 24 grand. You’ve used dead drops before- but never found so much cash inside them. Damn.

You chuckled and mentally thanked your client that he put it in the smallest amount of bills possible, it was ‘only’ 240 bills of a hundred each. He must have considered that it’s hard to haul a heavy suitcase out to weird locations like that. _How considerate._

You let Nero carry half of it in his jacket, and you took the other half. He’s never even had his hands on just a single bill of a 100. You stayed silent during your walk back, but back in the car he tried to make conversation with you. 

He was somewhat disappointed that you seemed to have reverted to that semi hostile, bratty personality now that business is over. Or you’re still digesting the matter, or both. He was over the moon, personally. 

“Well that was wild, wasn’t it?”  
“Yeah…”   
“You getting bratty with me again?” You could tell he was only trying to be lighthearted, but you couldn’t help but just feel a tiny bit of fear when you went over what you saw today. He tore someone in half with no effort at all. Could he do that to you and just bring the money to Dante? No, he can't even drive. Plus that’s ridiculous. Or? 

Nero sensed you were on edge, you seemed just as irritated as last night and asked directly if what you saw scared you. He did sound sorry though. You diverted the subject and asked Nero to use your phone to take a picture of the knife, and send it to your client, as a piece of preliminary evidence. 

You told him to be vague with context, and just add something like ‘found it’. In response you simply got a ‘Great! Thank you so much. I’ll call you tomorrow.’

As the drive went on, you started to lose focus, with the sun setting in the rear view mirror, almost blinding you. It was gorgeous out here- but the hampering anxiety was making you fear you should just pull over for a breather.

Nero asked you, “Why are you stopping?”  
You kept your hands on the wheel, and exhaled deeply. He saw your knuckles turn white.

“You need to promise me something.”  
Immediately he turned to you, ready to listen and probably promise whatever that was you were going to ask, unconditionally.

“I know it’s within your power to do so, I’m not stupid, just don’t… Don’t turn on me like that. Understood?”

Judging on how shaky you were and that you pulled over, he felt you were being dead serious. He felt sick to his stomach knowing that even after this he still just further damaged your trust even though he also gained a lot. Win some, lose some. 

You definitely lost a lot of respect for other humans too, and your former fellow officers, incompetent careless pieces of trash. Having a demon on your side does help a lot, though. You’d admit that. You just weren’t sure how to feel about said demon, after seeing a vulgar display of power like that.

Nero didn't know how to respond, he picked up on the fact that saying “I promise” won't suffice, and God knows what would actually suffice. Perhaps your subconscious was being a tad hypocritical, for taking his honesty as a sign of trust and then turning inside out as soon as he pulled off more demon shit. 

You're from the mainland, so to you this was absolutely never part of your culture. Not even folklore. Demons to you were red ugly things with hooves or something, and most importantly, they weren't real. But here they very much are real! It's a hard pill to swallow which you didn't expect. To you it barely even seemed demonic. If someone asked you to name that aesthetic you'd shrug, and say maybe mutants or insects.

Nero made up his mind; he was just going to spit out what came to mind.

“There's no right answer because no matter what I say you're gonna still be bratty with me. But I can say that I pinkie promise I won't hurt you.”

You knew he was right, and nobody could really change your mind but yourself, or maybe through some really intense actions on his end. But that's less likely, right? 

Even though now he had you too scared to drive, you still thought he was mind-blowingly attractive in his fleshy, human form. It was almost hard to focus just looking at him. And he smelled so nice too… 

If he asked you for a blowjob on the spot or hand-job to go, you'd deliver without hesitation. Maybe it's not the most classy thing but it's the truth. If he really wanted, you'd absolutely let him have his way with you too. In your own car. _Anyway, what were you even thinking about to begin with?_

“Y/n?” He tried to grab your attention, you were staring off into space debating and reflecting on those debaucherous thoughts. It was definitely wrong. At least right now, in this moment. How do you go from 0-100 that fast with those dirty ideas? Sheesh. 

“Yeah. Whatever. I need a fucking drink.” You grumbled something else, no doubt some lewd and passive aggressive comment. Thank fuck he couldn’t decipher it. Nero was glad he got you to calm down again, and take the wheel. He’d be royally screwed- he indeed has no idea how to drive. And he’d very much like to get home with you.

“Save that drink for when we get home, babe.” Your face turned red within a flash and you practically kicked the brakes, and brought the vehicle to a screeching halt before taking a deep breath. You actually weren’t truly mad, but you were pissed that he was trying your patience while driving.

“Don’t you **ever** fucking call me that, punk.”   
“Jeez, chill out.” Nero raised his hands in an innocent gesture.  
“Fuck you. Watch your mouth.”

You tried to press the gas just as abruptly maybe to pester him, but nothing of this sort can faze him anymore thanks to Nico’s driving. What a shame. Nero figured that you’re basically a bomb ready to blow- so he won’t add that snide comment. The rest of the ride home remained uneventful, and you parked and got out of the car so quickly you didn’t even catch Nero doing as you said- taking his sweet ass time to ogle the car in the driveway. 

You opened up the double doors, and the sunshine pouring in through the old shoddy stained glass windows was really bringing out the dust and grime buildup in this place, at least the foyer. Opening that door would always cause a little bell to jingle, which would catch someone’s attention. Dante came around the corner, and greeted you with a relieved smile.

“How’d it go?”  
You were mentally drained, so you just wordlessly walked over to the kitchen counter, and reached into your coat to put the bills down. Dante’s pupils were about to explode as you just kept putting more and more on the table.

“My math is bad… But that’s about 10 grand.”  
‘Nero has the other half.” He coughed and almost stumbled. “HALF?” His reaction caused you to chuckle for once. It seems he forgot that you initially said this would be a 20 grand job. “Yeah. Long story, but we can go grab about 50 more tomorrow.”  
“So what you’re telling me is, this guy paid you guys like 70 grand?”  
“Yes.” 

Dante began to pace around erratically. Of course he was happy- but he was also just in shock. He knew he’d split, and he’d stay true to his word. If you’re capable of doing this, he definitely doesn’t want to double cross you. “Where’s Nero?” He asked you, once he sat down on a chair and wiped the sweat off his forehead. 

On queue, he opened the doors and stepped inside and waved at Dante from afar. He glanced back at you, and told you that you can keep everything you picked up today, and he’d simply take the other half of the total tomorrow. Nero joined you two in the kitchen, and also set the money out on the counter. Secretly, he was sort of hoping he’d done his uncle proud.

“You two are magic, you know that?” He chuckled to himself, ignoring the obvious dirty implications he’s made you aware of. At this point, you were so unsure about what exactly they are in their essence- and just assumed they can borderline read minds. Just to be safe. So you figured that Dante may already have picked up on your moral, emotional as well as sexual dilemma towards Nero. Frankly, to Dante, it was hard to miss. It would be for poor Vergil as well, had he been here. Nero sat down at one of the islands, with a wide grin plastered on his face. 

You on the other hand, turned bright red, and avoided the devil’s gaze. Both of them. Dante turned around to tell you that Nico’s also got something for you, but first and foremost he got some cheap looking booze out of the fridge. If you’d like the motor oil-esque whiskey he had on hand, was up for debate. Probably not. 

With a somewhat unimpressed look on your face you laughed, and told Dante that he’s ought to get better booze now with that money. “Aww, no celebratory drink?”  
“Maybe something else, definitely not that.” you gestured to the bottle he was holding up, before pocketing a few bills, that were technically yours. You headed off back out of the door and said you were going to go get _some of that._

You planned on going to the store and getting something… More suited to your tastes too. And also getting a breather from all this madness, but you felt that just from your 2-ish days spent here, madness is inherent, and you won’t escape it unless you leave the fucking island. 

Nobody stopped you, and it also gave Nero a chance to spill the beans in the most cringy way possible without your supervision. He was probably going to disclose things he shouldn’t- but you figured that Dante is the kind of person to take this sort of stuff to the grave anyway. After all, Nero does actually deserve most of the credit for the heavy lifting here. So you’d let him have it. For now, you were more focused on picking out some guilty pleasure food and drinks before heading back to deal with them, which should prove interesting with some drinks to ease your nerves.


End file.
